Stanford beats rival Cal to repeat as women’s rugby national champions

STANFORD It couldn t have gone any better for the Stanford women s rugby organization Playing on its home turf against rival Cal the Cardinal earned its second consecutive USA Rugby Women s D National Championship Saturday night with a dominant - win It was the sixth overall title for Stanford - who hadn t won since before winning the championship last year in Houston after a five-hour lightning delay But while that win was far from home and was played in front of a sparse crowd because of the weather this one came with packed stands at Steuber Rugby Stadium which was hosting the finals for the first time since When the final whistle blew Stanford students poured onto the field to join the players in celebration Being here and seeing everyone in the stands and seeing the potential when people rushed onto the field it was honestly a little overwhelming noted sophomore Kiersten Lees who was named MVP Stanford returned all but two players from last year s gang Besides two close games against Cal Poly who won the D championship earlier on Saturday Stanford s closest win this season was - against Cal two months ago The Cardinal advanced to the finals by beating Arizona - and Western Washington - Honestly it means everything Lees disclosed Coming off of a championship there was a lot of pressure to perform to reach that same standard and I m proud that we had the discipline and the tenacity to go back and put in the hard work Stanford set the tone early scoring the first points and taking a - lead We knew they were going to come out hard and try to crush us in the first minutes Cardinal captain Leila Wang Gowett declared We were thinking about showing them in the first set piece in the first play how can we show them we want this more Stanford celebrates after winning against the California Golden Bears during the women s college rugby Spring USA Rugby XVs National Championships at Steuber Rugby Stadium in Stanford Calif on Saturday April Shae Hammond Bay Area News Group Cal got within - with minutes left but Lees scored two tries in three minutes to put Stanford back up by Freshman Chisa Ogaki then took advantage of a turnover and ran meters untouched for a try to seal the win Stanford coach Richard Ashfield credited the squad s kicking encounter and defensive pressure along with the physical impact of subs Hope Addhanome-Shipman and Madisyn Cunningham for the championship-deciding second-half run It was the first championship championship appearance for a Cal initiative established in For them there s so a multitude of things that they re adjusting to in this challenge Cal coach Katie Chou announced of her players There s a pressure to this event being in this type of crowd being in this high-visibility challenge that we just flat-out have not experienced before so I think what you saw is that there were lulls while we were adjusting but we finished strong Every year we keep climbing We were nowhere close to this last year so this scheme s going to keep rolling Related Articles Stanford sets NCAA softball attendance record in loss to Cal News recap The Sanders conflict portal madness faking injuries Former Cal Monte Vista tight end Jack Endries commits to Texas after leaving Golden Bears Mailbag On UW s non-conference schedule House impact P media rights Cal football basketball sink from optimism to alarm bells Are there any life rafts The Cardinal eventually scored straight points to extend the lead to - until Cal scored two tries in the final two minutes What I ve been thinking the whole season is after last year we got hungry and we got a taste of what it was like to win the national championship so we came back here thinking that we yearned to do it again and pushing ourselves Gowett announced Tonight under the lights all that hard work really exhibited Gowett stated no Stanford competitor had played competitive rugby before coming to The Farm Selected like Ogaki hadn t picked up a rugby ball until seven months ago While Stanford celebrated Cal supporters also came onto the field and formed a human tunnel for the Bears to run through honoring the plan s largest part achieving season to date I m proud of this group Chou revealed We ve never been here before and unfortunately the count didn t go our way but like I mentioned to them in the circle we ll be back We ll definitely be back They didn t get all the way but they ve made history