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Women’s Rugby blanks Smith College, 41-0

The Plymouth State Women’s Rugby team continued its dominance last Saturday at the Recreational Field, shutting down Smith College 41-0 to qualify for the regional playoffs. Jenny Larochelle led the scoring with three try’s as Plymouth State cruises into the regional playoffs. PSU hopes to build on last year’s run, where they were ousted by the eventual national champions, Providence College. Smith proved to be more of a challenge than most teams Plymouth has faced this season, but the hosts didn’t let the competition phase them. PSU managed to get close enough to the uprights for Ashley Hokanson to pull out a hat trick and kick for points, ultimately connecting to put Plymouth on the board. The hosts added to their early lead when Beth Metts picked the ball out of the ruck a little while later and scored Plymouth’s first try of the game. Plymouth kept the scoring coming, getting insurance from Andrea Clark, who came back from two weeks out to make a catch and then recover the ball and score after getting tackled. Larochelle later added her first try, weaving through Smith’s defense, while Metts converted two kicks to pad the lead before the end of the half. Plymouth saw the opposition grow tighter when Gina Pageot got sin-binned for a high tackle with three minutes left in the half. The play left the hosts down a player, but they held a 29-0 lead at the break. Smith stepped up and applied pressure to Plymouth State in the second half, but they couldn’t do any more than slow the host’s dominance. Larochelle led off by scoring another try with Beth Metts cleaning up with another conversion to widen the gap. Meg Kennedy then cut in, dodging the Smith defense to score another try. Smith managed to keep Plymouth off the board from there, but were unable to make a push on offense, settling for the 41-0 defeat. Plymouth State will kick off regional playoff action at home, hosting teams such as Bates, Bowdoin and Northeastern in their hunt for the regional title. Action begins Saturday at 11 a.m.