Can you possibly do better than 43 points at halftime?
 
Why, yes, you can.
 
Exceeding 40 points in both halves, the Grand Canyon University Women's Rugby bounced back from last week's loss to Brigham Young University in impressive fashion with a dominant 91-14 victory over San Diego State University Sunday afternoon at the GCU Practice Soccer Field on the GCU campus. The 91 points is the most the Lopes have scored in a spring match since tagging the University of Arizona for 98 points in February of 2023.
 
The Aztecs actually began the match with the ball, but it took all of 32 seconds for SDSU to turn the ball over, and another 13 seconds for GCU's Lelei Time to march through the San Diego State defense for the first try. The Aztecs didn't lay down, though, scoring on their next possession to take their only lead of the game at 7-5. Time's first score, though, showed the Lopes they could overpower the middle of the Aztecs' line with not a lot of resistance, so Kloe Williams followed her lead in giving the Lopes the lead back 10 minutes into the match. From there, the rest of the first half was clockwork for the Lopes, scoring a try on an average of every five minutes en route to a 43-14 edge at halftime. From there, GCU did just about whatever they wanted to do in the match's final 40 minutes, getting "hat tricks" (three tries apiece) overall from Time, Williams and freshman Carmandee Coghlan. Arianna Topping and Ixel Sanchez contributed a pair of tries each, and Angelique Schrock and Ciara Tu'u each added a single score. Topping added eight two-point conversions along the way.
 
"A win like this brought some confidence back to the team and built some connection," said Lopes' Head Coach Lindsey Mahoney. "It helped to remind us of what we're good at and reinforce our strengths. We now get a chance to recover from an incredible number of injuries."
 
The Lopes get that because a furious February schedule now gives way to a three-week break until GCU finishes out the regular season schedule with a clash against their archrivals, Arizona State University, on Saturday, March 21 at GCU Soccer Stadium on the GCU campus. Kickoff is scheduled for 10AM, and admission is FREE.