Nittany Lions Kick Off Fall Season with on-the-road Win

The Nittany Lions kicked off their season with an impressive 78-8 win in Charlottesville over University of Virginia on Saturday.  

Due to Covid exposures at Virginia Tech, Penn State was forced to start their season a week later than anticipated.  However, they were able to use their extra week to build and bring intensity during the match.  

The Cavaliers scored first, opting for a penalty kick right in front of the posts, putting them up 3-0 with only minutes gone on the clock.  The score propelled the Nittany Lions to come alive and they quickly came back and went into half time with a 46-3 lead. 

Captain Zhayer Legrand (5th Year) was very proud of her team and their performance.  “Coming off our CoVid season last year, there was exuberant energy and gratefulness to take the pitch again with not only our returners, but new players as well,” Legrand said.  “I was particularly proud of our offloads during the game - we were always looking to keep the ball alive and had incredible supportive runs. That allowed us to repeatedly break through or find holes in UVA’s defense and score.”  Camille White led with 3 tries, and Natalie Bjorklund followed with a pair of tries as well. In all 10 different players found the tryzone through the course of the game.

Penn State also played a 3rd half of two twenty minute periods specifically to give all our brand new rugby players their first chance to play on the field.  The new Nittany Lions dominated 20-0 with two of four tries being scored by  Bekha Ropka (1st Year).  This was an encouraging start considering the majority first touched a rugby ball three weeks ago.  “There is so much promise and potential for them to continue to thrive and I can’t wait to see how much they’ve grown by the end of the fall season,” Legrand commented on her new teammates. “This is only the beginning for this group of rookies and something tells me they’re going to be special”

The Nittany Lions will host Life University as their home opener this Thursday the 30th at 7pm and follow with JMU at home Oct 2nd at 1pm.