If one picked Army, Penn State and Navy to head to the Women’s DI College final four, few could contest the argument that they're among the best four teams in the country. However, it’s an impossible scenario considering all three teams traveled to Princeton, N.J., for their round of 16 match today. The only entity that makes out when these bouts are contested this early in the tournament is the spectator, and today, everyone was treated to a fabulous Army v Navy game.

At one point, the defending national champion had a 10-point lead over Navy, but then the Midshipmen went on a 15-point, unanswered tear, and dotted down a try in injury time for the 25-20 win.

“It’s impossible to describe what it means to this team to play Army and actually beat them, especially for the firsties who are graduating,” Navy coach Sue Parker said of the rivalry. “This is a huge accomplishment, and to have beat Army in the context of this tournament makes it more special.”

It was rough going for both teams initially. The referee was incredibly strict around the breakdown, and the teams were slow to adjust to his standards. There was too much whistle during the game, and teams rarely enjoyed an extended amount of uninterrupted, fluid playing time. The game was made more interesting, however, by a bevy of yellow cards levied on both sides. Army was the first to go a man down, but still managed to go up 3-0 off an Emily McCarthy penalty.

Navy answered right back and marched downfield with some nice forward movement from inside center Jane Paar, who is incredibly difficult to take down and remarkably strong in the tackle – in fact, it looked like the Eagle 7s player was trying to make offensive tackles as a ballcarrier heading into contact. Prop Koi Watson finished off the long series by bouncing off a few defenders for 10 meters and into the try zone, 5-3.

Watson would be the subject of a spine-shuttering scene, when the prop’s shoulder slipped out of the socket during a tackle. Teammate Jenn Sandifer indelicately yanked on the front row’s arm – twice – to get it back it back into place and ready for more.

Army retook the lead when a scrum deep in Navy’s end saw McCarthy break weakside and dish to fullback Jess Sexauer, who fought through 10 meters of defenders for the try, 5-3.

From the very next possession, Navy stayed camped out inside Army’s 22 meter, and the cadets played excellent defense. Navy hampered their own efforts with a series of penalties and unforced errors, and was eventually awarded their first yellow card. But despite the man-down, a pretty lineout set up a backline movement that put Navy #11 into space along the sideline for the try, 10-8.

Lead changes were still on tap. The last score of the half belonged to Army, as Sexauer inserted into the line, took advantage of a flat-footed defense, and used her sideline teammate to pin defenders and find an alley to the try zone. One stiff-arm later, and Sexauer’s try gave Army a 13-10 lead into the break.

It’s safe to say that when both teams reconvened with coaches during halftime, the message was: No more penalties. The beginning of the second stanza started well enough, although Navy blew an opportunity for points when one player indicated an attempt at goal, and another tapped through the mark to surrender possession.

And then Annie Lee took the field. Last year’s DI National Championship MVP has been coming back from injury, and she only joined her teammates about 10 minutes into the second half. But, the wing made good on her first touch of the ball. Sexauer set up Lee along the sideline, and then the speedster danced around a couple of defenders before streaking 60 meters for the try and conversion, 20-10.

“The first turning point occurred after the half when we were able to adjust from getting so many penalties,” Parker said. “The refs were really picky about what was going on in the breakdown – it hurt us in the first half; it hurt them in the second half. Second, after Annie Lee scored a try, we made a good defensive adjustment and was able to take that weapon away. We got a lot of confidence from stopping that and were able to capitalize when Army had two players in the sin bin second half.”

Navy didn’t fold when Army extended its lead and remained composed. Army still had trouble with the whistle, and eventually went down two players. It allowed Navy to spend a lot of time in Army’s end, but credit due to West Point for repelling the Midshipmen’s long goal-line stance. The attack finally broke through when outside center Kacey Liscomb found room out wide for a try, 20-15.

Navy retained momentum and got some damaging runs from flanker Erica Peterson, and scrumhalf Brooke Amoroso remained poised as the minutes ticked away.

Their composure was finally rewarded after long breaks from Paar and Peterson get Navy deep into Army’s end. The forwards battered away at the line and hooker Jenn Sandifer finally found some green diving over the line, 20-all.

With the game on the line and time winding down, play became frenetic. Uncharacteristic no-look passes going awry killed a couple of Army’s attacking opportunities, while Navy was able to control possession a little more.

In injury time, Navy tapped through a penalty and Paar single-handedly got her team to Army’s 22 meter. A couple of phases later, the ball spun wide to the backs where wing Julia Hardgrove got around the corner, 25-20.

It was all Navy needed, as minutes later the final whistle sounded, and Army sank into disbelief.

“You can imagine how proud I am that they held that kind of composure against a team like Army,” Parker said. “Army was poised to make another run for the national championship.”

Navy is poised to take on Penn State in tomorrow’s round of 8 game. The teams saw each other a few weeks ago during the MARFU championships.

“Our cover defense was excellent, but we missed too many tackles that allowed them to go forward and retain possession,” Parker said of her team’s performance today. “We made good technical adjustments in the scrum – as they were pushing us around too much in the first half – and once we figured out what the ref was calling in terms of offsides and ball’s out, we did well in the rucks. We have to be more disciplined in keeping possession; if we can’t starve Penn State of possession, then we’re not going to give ourselves much of a shot.”

A lot has to go right against Penn State tomorrow, but it should be one of the best games of the tournament.

In week 7 of the Rugby Super League, we had NYAC over Old Blue 31-16, Chicago Griffins over Denver Barbarians 23-19 and Life University over Dallas Harlequins 45-27.

In New York, the second meeting of the season between NYAC and Old Blue resulted in another win for NYAC, 31-16 the final score this time.  The game followed a similar pattern to the first one – a close game until late, when NYAC pulled away for what looked like a comfortable win on the scoreboard.  But the score might be a little deceiving, as the halftime score was just 12-11 to NYAC. Indeed Old Blue might have had the halftime lead if not for a botched conversion attempt.

In the second half, NYAC looked like they were going to open things up, but handling errors were numerous despite the perfect conditions and the score was stuck on 19-11 with less than fifteen minutes to play. Finally NYAC started putting points on the board and scored three tries to put some daylight between the teams. Old Blue scored a late consolation try to make the score respectable at 31-16, but NYAC secured another bonus point win to move to a commanding 5-0 record in the conference.

In Chicago, a late scramble was in order, as Denver fought back from an 18-6 deficit to take the lead with about five minutes left, only to see Chicago score again in the 83rd minute to claim the win, 23-19 the final score.

In a low scoring first half, Denver was first on the board with a Maximo De Achaval penalty, before Chicago started a sustained assault on the Denver line.  Three times the Griffins had set pieces that didn’t pay off, until finally Villi Fakatou finished off a maul from a lineout to put the Griffins on the board. The Roland Suniula conversion made it 7-3, and just as the half expired, the Griffins decided to have Suniula kick a penalty to make the score 10-3.

In the second half, Suniula and De Achaval exchanged penalties before Chicago powered over for their second try, scored by Chalie Baleirara, to stretch the lead to 18-6.  Denver started exerting some influence on the game, and after a long attack, halfback Ben Nicholls touched down, and the conversion narrowed the gap to 18-13. De Achaval added another penalty to make it 18-16, and with five minutes left, yet another De Achaval penalty recaptured the lead for Denver. As time was about to expire, the Griffins began a multi phase movement that was that ended up with fullback Corey Quiglia touching down the game winning try.

“We certainly had our opportunities” said Denver rep John Kenney, “we were inside their 22 multiple times and just didn’t get any points, we were putting together several phases and had the opportunity to put multiple points on the board, but credit the defense, they defended well and from there we knew we were in for a battle”. Wez Parkes of the Chicago Griffins was happy with the final result, if not the way it was obtained. “The good thing was that we hung in there and had an opportunity to turn it around at the end and that’s what we did.

Denver has been hammered by injuries and they were real desperate for a win and if we don’t get the basics right anything can happen.”

In Dallas, Life University got back on the winning track, but not before Dallas Harlequins made them work hard for the win. The final score was 45-27 to Life. Dallas was first on the board with a Shawn Begg penalty, as Life appeared to have trouble shaking off the cobwebs from the 800 mile bus journey. Dallas continued to press, being awarded several penalties before the referee decided to sit a Life player down for ten minutes due to the continued infractions. The yellow seemed to wake Life up a bit, and Cathal Doyle notched Life’s first try after a rolling mail. Minutes later, Life’s Tui Osborne picked up a loose pass and sprinted 90 meters for a try. As the half wound down, Doyle scored his second try of the half, and Life was 19-3 ahead, despite Dallas controlling much of the territory and possession up to this point. Dallas did manage to claw a score back, Shawn Begg scoring after Dallas hammered away at the try line for a while, and the Begg conversion made it 19-10 at the half.

Dallas started the second as they finished the first half, Gonzalo Ruiz scoring an unconverted try to narrow the gap to 19-15.  But this was as close as Dallas would come, as the game opened up and the tries seemed to come from everywhere. Life added four more tries and Dallas responded with two in a seventeen minute stretch that had the scoreboard ticking over often. Life seemed to get better as the game went on, overwhelming the Dallas defense by maintaining continuity and reducing the amount of possession on which Dallas might counter.

Dallas did score the four tries and got a bonus point out of the proceedings, while Life continues to put pressure on NYAC at the top of the standings.