Lady ‘Phins Fall to Tempe, 3-10

The first half was scoreless, and the Santa Monica women were unable to keep possession for most of the half. However, tenacious defense on the try line kept the Tempe women out of the try zone for over 20 minutes. Six times, the ball was held up in the try zone and when the whistle blew for the half, the ‘Phins stellar tackling and defense kept the score 0-0.

The second half started much better, with Santa Monica getting on the board first with a penalty kick made by the game’s flyhalf, Jacki Bercovici (3-0). However, Santa Monica could not get into an offensive rhythm and spent much of the half kicking the ball out of their half of the field. Despite another tremendous defensive effort in this half, Tempe’s speedy fullback broke the line twice and scored two tries (3-10). The ‘Phins had one last possession to end the game, but were unable to capitalize on it.

Even with the loss, the rock steady defense kept a tough, physical team at bay. In this extremely competitive division, there are sure to be many more dogfights like this weekend.

The Lady ‘Phins next match is away at Belmont on March 8.