In a rare occurrence of regular season rugby matches on back-to-back days, the
Grand Canyon University Women's Rugby team didn't allow a try from either of its two opponents in posting a pair of victories. The Lopes began the weekend in the Los Angeles area with a defensive-minded 20-3 win over Claremont McKenna College Saturday morning, then made the 90-minute trek south to San Diego, California, to throttle the University of California-San Diego, 78-0, 24 hours later. The sweep extended the Lopes' winning streak to three matches, and upped their regular season mark to 6-1 with one match remaining.
Saturday: GCU 20, Claremont 3
The Lopes didn't necessarily know what to expect from the Foxes, since the two programs had never faced each other, and CMC is in its inaugural season of Division 1 rugby after winning back-to-back D2 national titles. That might have explained the slow start – one that saw the Lopes own just a small lead but still pitching a shutout at halftime. The Foxes kicked a drop goal to get on the board in the 51
st minute, but the Lopes finally got things rolling after that to put the game out of reach with tries from
Samantha Garcia,
Lauren Campbell and
Savonna McGlothan to seal the win. Garcia also added a drop goal of her own as well as a two-point conversion.
Sunday: GCU 78, UCSD 0
There was no such resistance from the Tritons on a cloudy, breezy Sunday morning, since the Lopes were on all cylinders from the opening kickoff. Garcia, McGlothan and Lopes' senior
Danielle Sileo led the balanced GCU attack with a pair of tries each, but got plenty of help from six others in the try zone as the Lopes posted their third shutout of the season. Garcia also added nine 2-point conversions in 12 attempts on the day.
The Lopes will have three full weeks to rest and heal from the 80-plus minutes of work from the weekend before they wind up the regular season schedule at home. They'll host the Aztecs of San Diego State University for the first time ever on Saturday, March 23 at the
GCU Practice Soccer Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 11AM, and admission is FREE.
