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From the first scrum of the day, when Captain Elise ‘Karate’ Ogden blocked a clearing attempt by the Smith flyhalf in the Smith try-zone, Bates owned the day. The Bobcats scored 5 unconverted tries on the day, the first two by sophomore scrumhalf Kathleen Boyland of North Attleboro, MA. Her tries were set up by the strong Bates Forwards but Kathleen strong determination and athleticism finished off the plays. Bates dominated the lineouts and the forwards rucked very well. The strong defense led by the attacking backline totally took the Smith team out of the match. Bates lives by their defense and this match was no different. Liz “PZ” Miller of Woodstock, VT also scored two tries and Elise “Karate” Ogden of Minneapolis, MN scored one.

Right off the kickoff, SCSU used there size and capitalized of a slew of Bates penalties to march down the field and score the first try of the match. It looked like Bates might be in for a long day. That wasn’t the case. Off the ensuing kickoff, Bates attacked and forced a turnover at the ruck. With some hard running, the Bates women forced a penalty on SCSU. Senior Molly Wolkin of Pittsford, NY kicked for touch on the penalty giving bates a lineout about ten meters out. Bates then ran a lineout play where ‘Karate’ Ogden picked up a ball at the tackle scoring her second match of the day. Rookie Senior Center Laura Will of Wilton, MA kicked the wide conversion. The try of the match was by Haley Campbell who took a feed on the wing from Kathleen Boyland, immediately broke a tackle, then through some shake-and-bake at the SCSU fullback and scored. Other scorers, Kathleen Boyland (1 try, one conversion), ‘PZ’ Miller (1 try).

While the Bates women warmed up in the drizzling rain, the Bowdoin women stayed warm on their luxury bus. The Bates women had never gone 2 and 0 at Beantown and they were definitely pumped up for this semi-final showdown. From the first kickoff, Bates attacked. Forwards and Backs alike layed some thundering hits on the Bowdoin team. Bates had many scoring chances early on but was never able to punch it in. some curious calls by the inexperienced referee led to penalty about 30 meters out. Bowdoin called for ‘points’ and converted as the half ran out leading 3-0. The second half was about the same, with Bowdoin scoring on another penalty kick and leading 6-0. As the half continued, Bates continued to physically pound Bowdoin trying to wear them down. This was evident during the last five minutes when Bates had multiple chances to score. The best two chances were on a penalty 10 meters out. Lindsey ‘Texas’ Pryor went week side off the penalty play and was just forced into touch. The following lineout by Bowdoin was not straight so Bates elected for the scrum. Texas had an 8-man pickup but Bowdoin held strong. Time expired with Bowdoin the victors.