St. Bonaventure, NY. - The offense was running wild for the Wheeling University Women's Rugby team on Saturday as they traveled to St. Bonaventure. The team broke their single-game scoring record as they took down the Bonnies 136-3 to move their program win record to 20-straight games. It was a historic day all around for the Cardinals, and senior captain Bella Gullatta would write her name in the National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) history books in the effort.
Gullatta would lead the Cardinals with 54 points in the effort, scoring a career-best four tries and finishing 18-20 on conversion kicks on the afternoon. Her leadership came, as it has come all year in the kicking game, where she finished 18-20 and accounted for 36 of those 54 points in the effort. Gullatta would hit nine of those in the first half, and added her first try just before the half. In the second half, she flipped script, getting across the try line three times as she broke her single-game try record. Her 54 points broke the NCR All-Time single-game point record and the team is waiting on confirmation to see if she set the collegiate rugby single game scoring record. The effort now gives her 140 points on the season, and she looks to continue her success with two more regular season games to go.
The scoring would start with the Cardinals spreading the ball around, with four different Cardinals scoring the first four tries of the afternoon. Shannon Whypji, Alexis Dallas, and Alli Davis would all get across the try line, with Gullatta hitting all three conversion kicks and adding the final try and conversion to give Wheeling a 35-0 advantage. As the game went on, Wheeling continued to spread the ball throughout their ranks, with Heavenly Afase, Marlee Garrison, and Brie Lomu each coming in to add the next three tries and halfway through the first Wheeling would extend their lead to 56-0 with just 10 minutes to play before half. St. Bonaventure got on the baord with a Penalty Kick, but Maya Alexander would end the first half scoring with her first try, and the Cardinals headed into the locker room with a 63-3 advantage.
The Cardinals would score nine tries over the first 40 minutes by nine different players and the Cardinals would continue the push into the second half. The first Cardinal to score multiple tries in the effort was Afase, who got the second half scoring going, followed by a Gullatta conversion to make it 70-3 in favor of the Cardinals. It was Afase's first multi-try effort of the season as she has stepped into the starting lineup. Tatyanna Watson and Vanessa Aguilar were next, each scoring their first tries, followed by conversion kicks from Gullatta that pushed the Cardinals towards the century mark at 96-3. The lone conversion kick miss would come after Dallas's second try of the day and the Cardinals would go over the 100-point mark with 2 minutes remaining.
It would be Gullatta who got the Cardinals there with her third try of the day, followed by her own conversion, and the Cardinals took a 103-3 lead. The Cardinals continued to spread the ball around, with Emerson Callegari and Arianna Pappas each getting across the try zone before Gullatta sailed through two conversions, and Tamzin Boyce would get her first that made Wheeling's lead 124-3. Gullatta's second missed conversion kick would come on her final try of the night, and it would be fellow captain Ema Tai that ended the scoring with her first try. Gullatta's conversion kick went through the uprights and Wheeling would get the game to its final score of 136-3. IT broke their old single-game scoring record by 26 points as they push towards the National Tournament.
Bella Gullatta led the way with 54 points in the effort, scoring four tries and going 12-14 on conversion kicks on the day. It brought her conversion kick percentage for the season to 67.8% (38-56) as she continues to lead the kicking game. Heavenly Afase, Alexis Dallas, and Tamzin Boyce would each finish with 10 points on the day, while Shannon Whypji, Alli Davis, Marlee Garrison, Brie Lomu, Maya Alexander, Tatyanna Watson, Vanessa Aguilar, Emerson Callegari, Arianna Pappas, and Ema Tai each scored one try in the effort.
The Wheeling University Women's Rugby team returns to action on Sunday, October 26th, when they battle The University of Cincinnati at 5 PM.
