BEVERLY, Mass. — The No. 3 nationally ranked Endicott women's rugby team defeated No. 1 Cortland, 31-27, behind a hard-fought effort to capture the National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) East Regionals Championship on Sunday afternoon at Hempstead Stadium.
Tess Merrill (Greenwich, N.Y.) guided the Gulls offensively with two tries and a pair of conversions.
Kaitlyn Quinn (Salem, N.H.) also found the try zone twice, while Jourdan VanAmburgh (Selkirk, N.Y.) scored once.
VanAmburgh also was named the Player of the Match for her efforts on both the offensive and defensive ends.
Cassidy McElhinney (Natick, Mass.) rounded out the scoring with one conversion.
Trailing 22-19 at the half, Endicott outscored Cortland 12-0 over the first 14:42 of action to seize momentum in the matchup.
The Gulls' defense fed off the back-to-back scores by holding Cortland scoreless until the 8:15 mark of the stanza via several strong open field tackles and a well-connected line.
From there, Endicott turned in a gritty effort over the final eight minutes to secure the NCR East Regionals Championship.
Quinn nearly put the punctuation mark on the championship with a try at the 20-second mark, after breaking multiple tackles to find her way into the try zone, but the score was not awarded due to a penalty.
Overall, Endicott did not allow Cortland to score through 31:45 worth of play to begin the second half.
WHAT'S NEXT
No. 3 Endicott (8-0) will face No. 2 Northern Michigan in the NCR National Semifinals on Saturday, December 3 at 1 PM (EST) in Houston, Texas at AVEVA Stadium.
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(Photo Credit - Jonny Ratner '24)
