Story Links
EMMITSBURG, Md. (September 19, 2026) – Mount St. Mary’s women’s rugby now stands at 0-2 during the 15’s season, after a near comeback in the loss to LaSalle driven by Neely Denlinger in the second. Denlinger had two phenomenal runs that helped to gain yardage, leading to two tries from her teammates Aubree Rzepka and Anna Yerofeyev, as well as a conversion from Shaniah Mayers. On the defensive end, Sydney Sibilia led the team in tackles recording six in the game.
For the first 15 minutes of the game, there was no scored try from either team and the Mount’s defense was able to hold strong. Then LaSalle scored with three tries and a conversion to make the score 17-0. Bella Canby was then able to wheel past the LaSalle defense to score the first try on the Mount’s side of the scoresheet. After Canby’s try, there was a penalty kick for LaSalle in which they scored. This would end the half with a score of 20-5.
Going into the second half, LaSalle was only able to score one more try before the Mount held them scoreless the rest of the game. This is when Denlinger starts to gain some yardage to lead her team into a comeback. Then, five minutes before the try from Rzepka, LaSalle’s player Alyssa Williams received a yellow card putting their main offensive scorer out of the game for ten minutes. Rzepka was then able to get around LaSalle’s defense to score her first collegiate try. For the next nine minutes the Mount is fighting to get back to the try zone, with Denlinger again gaining huge yardage to put the Mount within close range. Then Yerofeyev was able to break through the defense using her body to score the try, followed by Mayers’ conversion a minute later. The final score of the game would be 25-17, with Mount falling to LaSalle.