WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Facing a team that is annually in the mix for a National Intercollegiate Rugby Association Championship, the New Haven women's rugby team fought to the end, dropping a 38-36 decision to the visiting West Chester University Golden Rams.

Leading the Chargers on the day was the combination of Lala Guimares and Sereana Vulaono (Roselle, Ill./Lake Park) who each converted a trio of tries, Guiamares with a pair in the first half and one late in the second half and Vualaono the opposite, one late in the first half and a pair in the second half, one on the front end and one on the back end.

West Chester opened up the scoring with a try and conversion in the first three minutes of action, however New Haven answered right back just over seven minutes later, knotting the score at seven with the first try of the day from Guimares and the ensuing conversion from senior captain Sydney De La Cruz.

The teams would once again trade scoring plays midway through the first half, with West Chester scoring first to regain a seven point lead at 14-7. The answer for New Haven came just over three minutes later with Guimares again breaking through to find the try line with De La Cruz again adding two points on the conversion.

The next score would come from New Haven, breaking up the early transition of trading scoring plays as Vulaono was awarded a penalty try and the full seven points to give her team a 21-14 lead with under seven minutes to play before the half. West Chester answered back just over two minutes later, however the Chargers would take a 21-19 lead into the halftime intermission after West Chester failed to complete the conversion attempt.

Coming out of the break, New Haven was the first to find the try line as Vulaono added her second of the day less than 90 seconds into the action. West Chester responded by scoring the nest 19 points to take a 38-26 lead before New Haven closed out the contest with back-to-back tries from Guimares and Vulaono, however the Blue and Gold was unsuccessful on the ensuing conversions, leaving the final margin in favor of West Chester with the two-point margin.

New Haven will take the next few weeks to rest and recover as they will next take the field on Saturday, October 19 on Long Island where they will face the Long Island University Sharks at Robert Blitz Field with the opening kickoff set for 11:00 a.m.