The most important thing about the first match of the season was for Eastern to get into a rhythm and shake off all the rustiness.

Head coach Frank Graziano said the Panthers did this well in Saturday’s 83-0 win against the Indiana Collegiate All-Stars in Eastern’s first match of the season.

“With about five of our athletes playing other sports, it is really important for us to find that rhythm and get back into playing rugby,” Graziano said.

One of those athletes playing other sports is senior Marlise Davidson, who took a year off from rugby in order to focus on her swimming season.

“I was really happy to be back on the field after being gone for so long,” Davidson said. “I was sort of nervous at first too but after the first tackle it all started to settle in and everything was OK.”

Davidson had six assists on the day, and Graziano said it looked like she hadn’t missed any time at all.

“She looked great and she came back and made an impact right away,” Graziano said. “We are going to be depending on her leadership a lot throughout the year. It was exciting to see her come out and get back into it right away.”

Graziano said of the four new athletes on the team, three got in some playing time this weekend with freshman eight man Diana Zultowski scoring within the first fifteen minutes of the match.

“The new kids didn’t seem lost out on the field at all, so that was good,” said junior wing Samantha Manto. “In the first game all the parts aren’t going to be pretty but I think overall, after three weeks of practice, we did a good job.”

Graziano said he was also impressed with the play of Manto and junior lock Victoria Rosales.

Manto scored six times for the Panthers and Rosales went 9-for-13 in kicks.

“A lot of those trys were just being in the right place at the right time, but some of them were good runs,” Manto said. “Overall, I felt pretty good but I made some mistakes that I can’t be making in game four and five.”

The Panthers continue action against Purdue at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Lakeside Rugby Field.

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