Eastern ends losing streak against Purdue
October 27, 2014
Sophomore Breanna Young scored seven tries in the Eastern rugby team’s 63-5 rout of Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.
Young scored four-consecutive tries in the first half and three in the second half, giving the Panthers a much needed win and ending their two-match losing streak.
With her seven tries, Young currently ranks second in Eastern rugby history for most tries in a game.
Eastern coach Frank Graziano said he was impressed with Young’s performance.
“We have been trying to get her the ball the entire season and either the passer didn’t pass it properly or Brianna’s timing to enter the line or run the play was wrong,” he said. “Because she is able to do it correctly, it produces the correct results. That means more to them than it does to me because they are the ones that have to execute it on game day.”
The Panthers improved to 2-4 this season, winning their first road game.
The Panthers have been struggling on defense as of late, surrendering a combined 115 points in the last two games to Quinnipiac and Life.
On Saturday, the Panthers allowed their lowest amount of points to an opponent all season and when Purdue did score that was the only time Graziano said he was disappointed with the way they played defense.
“The defense was definitely better,” he said. “While it was better, it wasn’t totally clean. We need to get to a point where we are superior and we were superior to Purdue and we need to demonstrate that for the entire 80 minutes of the game. We were doing really well and everyone decides to take two minutes off and they walk right down the field.”
The Panthers did get other scores from multiple players on the roster, which has not happened much all season.
Deairelle Ivy scored three tries in the win, while Hannah Vieth scored a try as well for the Panthers.
Graziano said it was nice to get the win, considering the Panthers have dropped two in a row leading up to the trip to West Lafayette.
“More importantly a lot of the aspects that we have been working on during practices over the course of the last month finally had an opportunity to show up,” Graziano said. “Carissa Burge and Hannah Vieth had their best games of the year.”
Including the try, Vieth had two assists and converted on three kick conversions. Burge finished the game with four assists.
With possibly having three games left, the win for the Panthers proved to be a confidence builder for the remainder of the season Graziano said.
“It just proves to the girls that what we are doing in practice actually works if you do it correctly in the game,” he said. “Until that actually happens, it is just a practice play. So, it is probably more for their benefit than it is for my benefit. Plus it gives me something to build on.”
The Panthers are scheduled to play at Northern Illinois on Saturday, but the game is tentative and the game time has not been announced.
Bob Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or rjreynolds@eiu.edu.