Eastern sophomore flanker Stephanie Militello came out of nowhere with the interception, which sent Eastern’s bench into a frenzy and Ohio State’s defense in a hurry just to keep up.

Militello sprinted down field, and handed the ball off to Eastern’s junior lock Victoria Rosales. Rosales finished with a try and scored to put the Panthers up 39-0.

They held on to beat Ohio State Saturday at Lakeside Field, 108-3.

“Actually it was kind of funny, because before the game me and my teammate (junior center) Molly Clutter were talking how amazing it would be to intercept a pass that they were throwing to their back line,” Militello said. “I saw the scrum-half grab it and she just lobbed it out there and I just went out and got it.”

The cohesive passing game gave Eastern rugby its most points of the season, a coach who was grinning from ear to ear by game’s end, and a victory after two straight losses to West Chester and Indiana.

Later in the game, Eastern senior prop Jaki Brophy would score a try on six passes from what started with a move to the left side of the end zone and ended up with Brophy touching down in the middle for the score.

Sophomore wing Crystal Jones had two straight all-the-way runs in the second, to increase the lead to 77-3. Jones finished the game with six tries.

Manto and Rosales combined for 46 points, with Manto who had six tries and Rosales who conveted for eight conversions. Militello summed up a good day by scoring the last try and Rosales kicked the last two points.

“I’m always disappointed when we don’t pass well and when we pass well, it shows and we’re tough to beat,” Eastern head coach Frank Graziano said.

Militello said they’ve been working the pass for a week or two in practice for four hours a day at practice.

“If we would have played like this against Indiana, we would have whopped them, hands down,” Militello said.

The win takes Eastern to a 3-2 record going into two away games. They will play at 3 p.m. Friday at Oregon in Eugene, Ore.

Notes:

Jenkins put out of the game

Eastern sophomore fullback Ashley Jenkins went out of the game in the first half with a muscle contusion (bruise) after she said she was kicked in the face and in her left leg.

Jenkins’ left leg muscle was tight from running and has been this way for about five weeks now.

She was told by the trainer to apply some analgesic cream, similar to Icy Hot, and she is also now wearing a sleeve that keeps the leg muscle warm.

“With the sleeve, I should be fine,” she said.

Junior wing Samantha Manto runs with the ball for one of her six trys during Saturday morning’s 108-3 victory over Ohio State at the Lakeside Rugby Field. Eric Hiltner/The Daily Eastern News

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