February 15, 2025

Stanford Women's Rugby vs BYU
Steuber Rugby Stadium
Stanford, CA

Stanford 10 -  BYU 70

The Cardinal hosted BYU in an exhibition match in the lead up to the remainder of the conference season. BYU traveled from Utah to face the Cardinals for their first match since November as they head into conference play for the spring. BYU is in a division higher than the Cardinal in D1A Elite and the match was a good test for the Cardinal leading up to the Big Game vs Cal next weekend.

BYU took an early lead challenging the Cardinal with physicality at the point of contact. Strong runners in both their backs and forwards managed line breaks and tackle breaking runs to find the tryline.

The Cardinal worked to adapt to the physical play and tightened up their defensive efforts. Notable defensive effort by Kirsten Lees '27 helped to stifle BYU efforts to break the line. On the attacking end, Emma Troast '25 and Zoe Colleredo-Mansfeld '25 led the team in ruck clearance efforts working to preserve Cardinal ball.

Despite a balance in possession between the two teams, the Cardinal struggled to convert on their possession, while BYU made good on many of their 22 meter entries throughout the match.

The Cardinal efforts were rewarded before the end of the half as Flyhalf Laura Bocek '25 kicked the ball down the left side of the pitch, sending winger Journey Washingtonhigh '25 and outside center Cara Feit '25 on the chase. The ball was mishandled by the BYU fullback with Feit barreling down. The bobble ended with Washingtonhigh ultimately diving to touch the loose ball down in the tryzone. The Cardinal went into the half 5-36.

The second half saw some positive moments as the Cardinal spent the majority of the first 20 minutes in Cougar territory. While unable to convert until later in the half, the Cardinal continued to battle throughout the match.

In the 75th minute, off a penalty tap in the Cougar 22m, the Cardinal forwards went to work. A series of forward carries moved the Cardinal toward the goal line and shifted the Cougars in their defensive effort leaving an overload to the Cardinal backs. Scrumhalf for the match, Sydney Davis '25, found Bocek who pinned the single Cougar defender to set winger Dominique Ruedaflores free on the edge. Ruedaflores sprinted towards the corner and dove in for the try. The Cardinal would finish 10-70 against BYU taking with them plenty of learnings and ready to tackle the next half of the conference season.

The Cardinal will host Cal Berkeley on Family Weekend, Saturday February 22, 2025 at Steuber Rugby for a 11:00 am kickoff with a B-side match to follow. The Men's match will follow against San Jose State at 2:00pm.

Follow @stanford_rugby on Instagram to check out the Try of the Week and @stanfordclubsports on YouTube for recordings of the home matches.

Tries:
Journey Washingtonhigh
Dominique Ruedaflores 

Conversions: 
None converted

Stanford Women's Rugby v BYU

1. Leila Wang Gaouette
2. Georgia Scarr
3. Vanessa Onuoha
4. Zoe Colleredo-Mansfeld
5. Madisyn Cunningham
6. Emma Troast
7. Ana Palacios
8. Kirsten Lees
9. Sydney Davis
10. Laura Bocek
11. Journey Washingtonhigh
12. Jacqui McLean
13. Cara Feit
14. Dominique Ruedaflores
15. Ahmyah Hicks
16. Phoeben Worku
17. Caia Costello
18. Hope Adhanom-Shipman
19. Renee Bertrand
20. Isabelle McNabb
21. Chisa Ogaki
22. Elena Abarca
23. Emily Capstick