The Stanford women’s rugby team overcame a pair of tough opponents and slow starts to claim its fourth national championship, and third in four years. After a big second half in a 40-20 victory over Navy in the semifinals, the Cardinal needed a score in the final seconds to get past Penn State, 17-10, in the final.

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Bernard Bluhm

Stanford defeated Navy in the semifinals to advance to the championship match against Penn State. The Nittany Lions downed the Cardinal in last year’s national title game, but could not find similar success this season.

On Friday, Navy got the first points of the day with a kick for three points after unsuccessful pushes back and forth by both teams. Stanford finally scored a try late in the first half with freshman Jennifer Cooperrider putting the Cardinal on the board.

Sophomore wing Jessica Watkins notched the first of her four tries in the match just before the end of the half. Senior fullback Melissa Smit scored one of the two conversions, and Stanford went into halftime with a 12-3 lead.

After halftime, though, the momentum shifted to Navy and Stanford found itself suddenly trailing, 15-12, after two tries and one successful conversion early in the half. Though Navy held a size advantage, the Cardinal played to its strengths, beating the Midshipmen with quick passes and speed.

Watkins scored to put the Cardinal back on top after a sprint down the sideline that saw her dodging tacklers for half the length of the field. That try and the conversion put the Cardinal on top for good at 19-15.

Senior captain Erin Kobashigawa commented on the comeback. “We turned up the defense and did a better job of keeping the ball, better ball retention. We were calmer and really worked together to score some tries,” she said.

Watkins quickly scored another, again outrunning the Navy defense to earn a hat trick, putting her team up 26-15. Navy managed one more try, but missed a conversion attempt from near the sideline, to close the gap to 26-20. Watkins answered again and senior prop Rachel Danford added insurance with a try that brought the final score to 40-20 and sent the Cardinal into the national championship match.

Defending national champion Penn State, who edged Stanford in a heartbreaking 22-21 final last spring, beat Brown in the other semifinal by a score of 41-7 to earn a return trip to the championship. Unlike last year, which saw the Nittany Lions score 17 points in the first half, this final was a defensive battle as neither team was able to score early.

Stanford was the first to break through, with Watkins again turning the corner and beating the defense down the sideline. Senior flyhalf Jossy Tseng added another try before halftime, putting the Cardinal ahead 10-0 after Smit missed both conversion attempts.

After the halftime break, Penn State finally broke through to cut the Stanford lead to 10-5 after a try and missed conversion. After a second try for the Nittany Lions, a conversion would have given them a lead, but the kick from near the sideline fell short and the score was tied at 10.

That tie held through most of the half and overtime looked inevitable when Stanford began to drive as time was running out. With the clock reading zeros, the Cardinal moved up the field and it was Watkins who broke through and was tackled into the try zone, giving Stanford the 15-10 win and the 2008 national championship.

“We actually didn’t know that time was out. After Penn State scored their last try, we knew that it was a tie game and there was about five minutes left, but we had our backs to the scoreboard. We just held onto the ball and worked hard to get downfield. We did a great job keeping the drive on and then a hole opened up and we took it,” said Kobashigawa.

This is the Cardinal’s fourth championship after winning back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006, along with its first in 1999.

“The celebration was awesome. I’m a senior and it was one of the best feelings I’ve had in four years, to finally play like we knew that we could and play to our full potential. We worked hard this season and feeling that all that work paid off was brilliant,” said Kobashigawa.

In the men’s final, also held at Stanford’s Steuber Stadium, California blew out BYU by a score of 59-7 to win its fifth consecutive title.