Mental Mistakes End Girls Super A's Undefeated & Scoreless Streak Against Rival Adirondack

The Saratoga Mustans Girls Super A's had their toughest match of the season against rival Adirondack. In a battle of the only unbeaten teams in VYRA, the two teams battle to a 0-0 tie at halftime. The first half featured hard running and hits, with particularly strong defense against the opposing Adrindack scrum-half by senior scrum-half Emily Wexler (Burnt Hills). Saratoga was plagued by mental mistakes and miscues which resulted in repeated turnovers and stalled offensive drives. Mental mistakes also manifested themselves in the form of penalties, which were plentiful in the first half, again further thwarting the high scoring offense that was leading the league with a +88 point differential going into the game. Saratoga was able to slow the Adirondack attack with strong rucking and mauling, despite excellent play by Adirondacks trifecta of NRU All-stars. None was more difficult to defend than Adirondack's inside center, who mixture of speed and size made it near impossible to bring her down one one one. The result of her strong running created overloads for Adirondack which, along with repeated penalties, kept play deep in Saratoga's territory for the first time this season.
The second half began much as the first half ended. As Saratoga tired, mental mistakes continued to plague the team and the uneven distribution of penalties continued to give Adirondack superior field position. Eventually this proved to be Saratoga's downfall and Adirondack was able to notch three scores and jump out to a 15-0 lead. Indeed, it was not until the 65th minute that Adirondack was called for their first penalty, nearly 20 minutes after Coach Aaron Noble was ejected for arguing the lack of calls by the referee.
Despite the deficit, Saratoga fought back by returning to its brand of smash mouth rugby, winning rucks and pounding the ball with its forwards. Junior eight man Eva Meier (Ballston Spa) managed to pound her way in for a score, dragging several defenders with her, and freshman fullback Khirstian Carbonello's (Burnt Hills) conversion brought Saratoga within eight.
Unfortunately, despite intense play and continued intensity, the mental mistakes of earlier in the game proved to costly and the score stood, 15-7 in favor of Adirondack. Saratoga lost both its unbeaten status and its shutout streak which ended at seven halves of rugby. The loss dropped Saratoga out of the top spot in the standings, which it had held since April 5th, and made Saturday's match against Essex a must win if they hope to maintain home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Saratoga's Eva Meier (Ballston Spa) was awarded her second Rugger of the Match honors, although was given some fierce competition from Emily Wexler (Burnt Hills), whose defense in the first half was instrumental in keeping Saratoga in the game. Saratoga dropped to 4-1 on the season.