Sussex, WI–Hamilton looked to begin the regular season with an improved defense, and they were able to hold Pulaski to only one try for the first 47 minutes of the game, but the team’s 13 penalties, including a yellow card to Sophomore Fly Half Taylor Fryda, and their 26 missed tackles caught up with them as Pulaski added 19 points in the first twenty minutes of the second half, en route to a 26-7 win.
Pulaski opened the scoring in a back and forth game by utilizing an eight-man pick off of a five-meter scrum. Hamilton did a nice job keeping the score low despite losing four starters in the first half: Cara Bailey (13th minute), Sarah Michalski (30th minute), and Sydney Raymond (at half).
After getting down late in the game, Hamilton got the crowd cheering in the 64th minute when Hannah Pfersh took a penalty in for the team’s first home try in school history. Alex Werra converted the straight-on kick.
A pair of penalties close to the try line led to Pulaski’s #10 scoring their second try in the 47th minute and Pulaski’s #1 scoring their third try in the 54th minute.
Pulaski added their final try in the 62nd minute after winning a scrum near Hamilton’s 22. Pulaski’s #10 took the ball for a nice run before off-loading to Pulaski’s #13 who made her way through the crowd to score the try.
Fryda’s yellow card for a high tackle in the 61st minute cost her 10 minutes of playing time and put the team down one player for the same amount of time.
–Three Hamilton players made their debut today: Chloe Miller, Haley Pifher, and Sara Guenette.
–MacKenzie Kolesari led the team with 9 tackles.
Fantastic Five:
- Hannah Pfersch
- Scored a try, had five tackles, and no missed tackles.
- Lauren Leonardi
- Was a aggressive on defense and made the most of her limited touches on offense.
- Sydney Raymond
- Had three tackles, was 1/1 on our line outs, and stole a Pulaski lineout in just one half of play.
- MacKenzie Kolesari
- Had nine tackles and would have been higher on this list with less missed tackles.
- Cara Bailey
- Had three tackles in just thirteen minutes of play.
Hamilton RFC 