The Front Row Union

The UW Milwaukee Lady Panthers were defeated 10 -34 by University of North Iowa in their first game of the Collegiate Women’s Pool Play competition.

Effectively moving up a league from last year, Ulster’s favourites were playing the number two ranked team in the Midwest in what was always going to be a difficult game.

In an aggressive opening quarter the Panthers found themselves under intense pressure with UNI dominating the breakdown. However, with the Panthers fringe defence working well they eventually managed to move the ball into Uni territory and Mollie Martin finished off a fine move in the 18th minute to put the Panthers into the lead.

Julia Thorne

Unfortunately the rest of the half was one way traffic with UNI scoring three tries to go into the break with a 5 - 17 lead.

Coach Prunckle changed things around at half time, but UNI added two more tries taking the score to 5 - 29 before the Panthers finally got up to speed.

With a new determination the Panthers finally began to compete at the breakdown and after impressive interplay between the forwards and the

Brittany Houston

backs Julia Thorne broke through the defense to take the score to 10 - 29.

UNI fought back and the Panthers were marched back into their own territory on penalties. The defense finally faltered on the hour mark when UNI touched down for their final try of the day with their lead at 34-10.

The Panthers refused to give up and they quickly marched up field and regained possession. The pack were beginning to get on top and the backs were starting to move the ball well. After a period of pressure Brittany Houston eventually found a gap in defense and touched down to take the score to 15 - 34.

The Panthers continued to apply pressure and drive deep into UNI territory but were never quite able to capitalize on their opportunities as time ran down.

The match may have been best summarized by Lady Panther Flanker Megan Schultz, “I’ve never played in a better game in my career. I was amazed at how we were able to pick up the intensity and keep going even when we were behind in the score. I wish every game was as intense as this.”

Panthers side:

Julia Thorne, Theresa Trott,  Amy Mayer, Meghan Hausman, Maggie Reidy, Megan Schultz, Caila Ney, Kati McCormick, Brittany Houston, Shannon Will, Brianne Jones, Tina Gill, Kendra Johnson, Brittany Biedenbender,  Mollie Martin, Cori Jensen, Amber Faught, Jordan Belmarez, Heather Bertram, Michelle Knurr.

This was a big step up for The Panthers and it took them a while to get up to speed. Despite the defeat the girls now realise they can compete at the highest level and are looking forward to meeting the highly rated University of Minnesota, Duluth on Saturday 4th October. The FRU will be the first to bring you the score.

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• Iowa State University v The Panthers
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• Vicky Doak.
• The Return of The Bied!