Havoc Women Claw Back to Tie Wilmot
The Kent Havoc Women travelled to Baden, Ontario today to play the Wilmot Lady Warthogs this past weekend. In the 1st meeting this season between the two teams, Wilmot dominated the Kent ladies 74-5, and came into the game with a 3-3 record. The Havoc Women were 1-3-1 and undefeated in their last 2 games. Saturday’s game ended in a 24-24 tie after Kent fought back late in the game to equalize the score.
Wilmot came out strong, and dominated play early in the game, while the Havoc ladies had trouble sorting themselves out defensively. After 35 minutes the Lady Warthogs were leading 24-0, but Jaleesa Russell found a gap in the Wilmot defence and scored a try late in the first half. Score at halftime was 24-5 for Wilmot.
The Havoc ladies came out of the break with renewed energy and purpose, and began to exert pressure on Wilmot in all aspects of the game. Sophia Roth made a line break and ran 60 metres, only to be tackled 1 metre short of the try line. The support was there though, and Jaleesa Russell was well placed to take the pop pass and touch it down for the try. Sophia Roth kicked the conversion, making the score 24-12 for Wilmot.
The pressure on Wilmot continued to mount, and the Havoc forwards began to dictate the game tempo and field position. Breakdowns in Wilmot’s discipline lead to 3 yellow card penalties for dangerous play, and led to a penalty try under the posts for Kent. Sophia Roth kicked her 2nd conversion and the score was 24-19 with 10 minutes to play.
Kent maintained the pressure on the Warthogs, and after some heavily contested play close to the Wilmot try line, the ball was sent out to the backs allowing Tegan Williams to score the tying try with 2 minutes left in the game. Sophia Roth hit the upright with the conversion, making the score 24-24, which was how it ended.
The Kent Women have made great strides in the last 4 weeks, and are now 1-0-2 in their last 3 games. Their pattern seems to be to let the other team get ahead and then claw their way back into it. The ladies never quit, and have played very well against the top 3 teams in the division.
The ladies next league game is in Sarnia on 11 August.