On Saturday Dec 7, the UMW Women's Rugby team traveled to Richmond to play in the 38th Annual James River Christmas 7s tournament.  The tournament is a "friendly", not counting towards official standings.  Therefore, the team decided that it would be a great way to introduce the rookies to 7s, the game that is primarily played in the spring season.

In their first match, Mary Washington played eventual tournament champion James Madison University.  The first half saw JMU scoring twice and UMW scoring once, bringing the score to 12-7 in JMU's favor at the break.  Scoring for UMW was Katy Field with Ava Ward making the conversion.  In the second half, each team repeated their try tally.  This time, Ava Barnes scored a try for UMW.  The final score was JMU 24 - UMW 12.

The second match for Mary Washington was against Georgetown University 1.  Unfortunately, Georgetown's attack was too much for UMW to contain, as Georgetown scored 4 tries, making it 22-0 in their favor at the end of the first half.  The second half of the match saw gains from both the UMW offense and defense, as the two teams played a closer match.  Mary Washington's Ava Barnes and Nyah Speicher each scored in the second half, with conversions by Ava Ward.  However, Georgetown equalized both tries, giving Georgetown 1 a 36-14 victory over UMW.

The third match saw UMW complete against a second team that Georgetown entered into the tournament - Georgetown 2.  Just 20 seconds into the match, UMW's Jo Lent scored the first try of the match.  Mary Washington never relaxed their pace, with four tries in the first half; two from Jo Lent, one from Lena Hanson, and one from Awa Ward.  Ava Ward converted two of the tries, making it 24-0 at halftime.  The second half for UMW was just as successful, as tries were again put on the board by Jo Lent and Awa Ward.  Also, adding to their day's earlier total were Katy Field and Nyah Speicher.  Two of the tries were converted by Ava Ward and one by Greta Griese.  Georgetown 2 was unable to put a single point on the board, bringing the final to 50-0 in Mary Washington's favor.

Congratulations to Ava Ward who led the team in scoring with 29 points, as she also scored in all 3 matches.  Special thanks to rookies Ava Barnes, Greta Griese, Lena Hanson and Jo Lent; who were 4 of the 7 players that scored for Mary Washington.

The women's rugby team will resume their spring training during the first week of classes in January.  The team will have a booth at the spring Club Carnival.  Immediately after Club Carnival, the team will hold 5 non-contact clinics for those interested in learning about rugby and potentially joining the team.  No rugby experience is required to attend the clinics.  For additional information, please contact Coach Kris Kabza at kkabza@umw.edu.