BYU women’s rugby lost to No. 2 Central Washington 12-7 Wednesday night.
The Cougars were able to hold off the Wildcats in the first half. CWU had a chance to score on a penalty kick but missed.
During the second half, BYU wasn’t able to put any points on the board, but the Cougar defense stopped CWU from scoring as well and the half ended 0-0.
“Considering Central is probably our toughest team to play, I think we kept it up really well in the first half,” said senior Jennie Lewis. “Our defense was tough and we really fought hard.”
The second half brought a similar level of aggressiveness and intensity. Both teams battled through exchanged possessions until Central Washington put two tries on the board. They led 12-0 until BYU held a long possession and Sia Skipps scored a try. With Jessie Beck’s conversion, the game ended 12-7.
“Playing against this team is really emotional for us,” Skipps said. “We’ve played them in playoffs, we’ll probably play them again in playoffs. They’re a great team. When they started scoring on us, we started getting more aggressive and we were able to hold them at the end.”
BYU head coach Tom Waqa said he was pleased with how the Cougars played, despite the loss.
“Central Washington is a great team,” Waqa said. “But we saw some encouraging things to keep us going forward to the play-offs. We finished well. A 12-7 final score means it was a really good game.”
BYU’s next game is against SLC College April 1 at home.
