EMMITSBURG, Md. — The LIU rugby team traveled south for its season opener at Mount St. Mary's. In the midst of a rebuild under first-year head coach Joseph Rasmus Jr., program was slated for two 10-a-side matches and emerged victorious 44-0 and 24-7.
 
10s is a variation of the game played by emerging NCAA rugby programs. Halves are 10 minutes long. The code blends the speed and space of 7s with the physical brutality of 15s.

LIU opened proceedings with a long kickoff. Aggressive defense produced an early turnover deep inside the Mountaineers' half. The Sharks strung together a few phases of go forward ball. With just 79 seconds gone, Micaiah Thorton crashed over the line to give LIU its first score of the young 2022 campaign. The Sharks had their tails up as they restarted play with another kickoff deep into Mount's end.

LIU's defense suffocated the Mountaineers, who were scarcely able to advance the ball over the halfway line. With the blue wall beating Mount back phase after phase, it was only a matter of time before Emilie Granelli isolated a ball carrier and stole back possession. The Sharks quickly shifted the ball wide to Alexis Dallas, who broke away and dotted down between the sticks. LIU led Mount 10-0 with six minutes played.

From there, the Sharks started to roll.

Sophia Gaddis, Gina Pollice, Sayler Russell and Dallas combined to add six more trys to the account, earning Dallas a hat trick.

Meanwhile, LIU's defense stood resolute.

Mount looked to use kicking early to create a foothold in Game 2. The tactic relieved pressure, but would only keep the Sharks at bay temporarily. In the fourth minute, Ryen Scott capitalized in transition to score a breakaway try, giving the women in blue another early 5-0 lead.

Russell and Pollice would also find the try zone in the first half. Two conversions from Dallas gave LIU a 19-0 advantage.

With legs tiring in the final 10 minutes, mistakes creeped into LIU's play. The Sharks compounded handling errors in their defensive 22. An errant pass sailed behind its intended target and bounced into the in-goal. Mount's Riley Sibilia won the foot raise to the ball and applied downward pressure. Lisa Madray converted to close the deficit to 12 points.

The Sharks responded well. Ninety seconds later, Dallas crossed the line for her fourth try of the day. In the final six minutes, the Sharks mounted significant pressure through possession but failed to find the try zone. The Sharks missed opportunities to carry into contact, disrupting their continuity in attack.

 Rasmus was generally pleased with the day.

"There are a couple of areas – speed of support, using that support, aerobic endurance – that we'll want to improve in the week," he said. "We probably had three or four more trys on offer in the second game and we have to be better at converting those opportunities. But I am so happy to finally get the ladies back in action. We got good contributions from the entire squad.

"I was excited to blood a few freshmen against NCAA opposition."

The Sharks featured three debutants – D'Ondra Bomar, Ryen Scott and Sayler Russell. The freshmen combined to score 20 of the Sharks' 68 points on the day. 

Next up, the team travels to Brown on Oct. 8. The first match is scheduled to kick off at 11 a.m.

Match 1 
Long Island University (AWAY) 
Points (44): Dallas (19); Russell (10); Gaddis (5); Pollice (5); Thorton (5). 
Trys (8): Dallas (3); Russell (2); Gaddis; Pollice; Thorton. 
Conversions (2 from 8): Dallas (2 from 4); Gaddis (0 from 2); Pollice (0 from 2). 
Penalty Goals (0) 
Drop Goals (0) 
Mount St. Mary's (HOME) 
Points (0) 
Trys (0) 
Conversions (0) 
Penalty Goals (0) 
Drop Goals (0) 

Match 2 
Long Island University (AWAY) 
Points (24): Dallas (9); Pollice (5); Scott (5); Russell (5). 
Trys (4): Dallas; Pollice; Scott; Russell. 
Conversions (2 from 4): Dallas (2 from 4). 
Penalty Goals (0) 
Drop Goals (0) 
Mount St. Mary's (HOME) 
Points (7): Sibilia (5); Madray (2). 
Trys (1): Sibilia 
Conversions (1 from 1): Madray (1 from 1) 
Penalty Goals (0) 
Drop Goals (0)