The women’s rugby team crushed the American International College Yellow Jackets 38-21 Friday, in what Head Coach Rosalind Chou called a “team win.”
“We were able to see a lot of student-athletes rotate through the roster tonight and saw some resilient moments against a very physical AIC side,” Chou said in a statement to Brown Athletics.
Heavy winds and light rain made the first half of Friday’s contest a defensive showdown. The first minutes were filled with turnovers, scrums and dog piles as both sides struggled to bring their offense to life. Finally, at the 6:53 mark, Brown’s Olivia Baptiste ’26 did just that.
Genie Dickens ’28 scooped the ball up and quickly punted it upfield right to Baptiste, who perfectly executed a kick chase, landing on the ball and diving across the try line to give Bruno a 5-0 lead.
“All week, we had been practicing our chase as kicking has become a big part of our game plan this year,” Baptiste wrote in a message to The Herald. “I know Genie kicks high, so I realized this was the perfect time to chase after it. Luckily, I got a bounce my way, and the ball landed in front of me, giving me the chance to dive on it and score.”
Brown’s Julia Murray ’26 followed the try with a successful conversion, extending the Bears’ lead to 7-0.
But just as Bruno seemed to be firing on all cylinders defensively, the Yellow Jackets responded. At the 14:30 mark, AIC’s Naomi Dodd made an incredible effort, sprinting past multiple Brown defenders and diving past the try line to make it 7-5. Dodd’s try was followed up with a successful AIC conversion that tied the game up at 7-7.
Just as the Yellow Jackets seemed to be controlling the Bears’ offense, AIC made a crucial mistake, giving away a penalty kick and yielding Bruno a 10-7 lead at the half.
The second half of the game, in contrast to the first, was flushed with offense.
Shortly into the second half, Akilah Cathey ’25 powered through a dense Yellow Jacket defense, falling across the try line to extend the Bruno lead to 15-7 at the 10:36 mark. Cathey’s goal was followed by another successful Murray conversion, making it 17-7.
The Bears were able to sustain their offensive momentum, as Nikki Lynch ’25 made an impressive dive on the ball, landing across the try line in a scuffle to extend the Bruno lead to 22-7 at the 24:11 mark.
“We had good momentum to start the game with (Baptiste’s) really awesome try. As they began to catch on to our system, we always tried to do a new play or try things we usually don’t do in a game in order to catch them off guard, which seemed to work at times,” Lynch wrote.
Murray knocked in a fourth conversion to give the Bears a commanding 24-7 lead with 20 minutes left in the game.
Just eight minutes later, Lynch struck again. Grabbing the ball after a scuffle between both teams, Lynch sprinted toward the Yellow Jackets’ try line and made an impressive leap, extending the lead to 29-7.
After Murray nailed the conversion, the Bears had a dominant 31-7 lead with little time left on the clock. Minutes later, Cathey scored her second try of the game, running through Yellow Jacket defenders to extend Bruno’s advantage.
“I believe our team got a surge of energy and excitement. It was a great full team effort to start the game off and wrap it up with a win,” Baptiste wrote.
With an assertive lead and just minutes left, the Bears made hefty substitutions. AIC was able to capitalize, scoring a few tries and conversions that shrunk the deficit to 38-21. But to the Yellow Jackets’ dismay, time ran out on their comeback effort.
“The game was really exciting,” wrote Lynch. “There were times where we had to adjust better, but overall we successfully completed our goal.”
The Bears’ first Ivy matchup will be on Saturday at noon against the Princeton Tigers (1-2-0). Saturday’s contest will be held at the West Windsor Fields in Princeton, NJ and streamed on ESPN+.
“Everyone contributed to the team win and we are excited for our first Ivy matchup next weekend,” Chou said.
Cooper Herman is a senior staff writer covering sports and arts & culture. He is a sophomore from Alexandria, Virginia studying Economics and International and Public Affairs.
