Oct 04, 2025
Not all was lost on a perfect evening for rugby in Canton, Ohio. Not all was won either, but that’s not always a bad thing.
In a doubleheader Friday at Walsh University, the St. Bonaventure women rode a stellar defensive effort to an 11-5 victory. In the opening game, the St. Bonaventure men rallied late to salvage a 25-25 tie with Walsh.
Mia Popp scored with 5 minutes left in the first half and Elizabeth Lyons added a penalty kick on the final play of the half to stake the Bonnies (3-0) to an 8-0 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Lyons added another PK in the second half. Only a Walsh try with 4:25 to play spoiled the shutout for SBU, ranked No. 5 in the latest National Collegiate Rugby poll. Walsh was ranked No. 4.
“We didn’t connect as well on offense today as we normally do, but that was the best defense I’ve ever seen us play,” said Coach Meredith Pyke.
With the game scoreless midway through the first half, the Bonnies survived being down a player for 10 minutes after Madison Moeller received a yellow card for tripping.
Walsh came perilously close to scoring, but the Bonnies stifled their attack just inches away from the try zone before a Walsh penalty allowed SBU to clear the zone with a free kick.
The Bonaventure men (3-0-1), ranked No. 1 in the latest NCR poll, led No. 3 Walsh ,15-9, at the half on tries from Tanya Takaendisa and Troy Heroldt and the first of two PKs from Noah Edwards.
But a penalty-filled second half found the Bonnies down 25-18 after Walsh’s Jake Tolhoek drilled his sixth PK of the match with 11 minutes left.
But after a successful line-out deep in Walsh territory, Mehdi Merah scored with 2:35 to play and Edwards made the conversion to keep the Bonnies unbeaten.
“That was a very tough game. We played really well in the first half, showing very good patience in our attack and lock-down defense,” said Coach Danny Neighbour. “But we got a little panicked in the second half. Walsh brought good line speed in defense and were really putting a lot of pressure on us at the breakdown which resulted in some bad decisions and some rushed and forced attack.”
But Neighbour wasn’t entirely disappointed.
“It was a good gut check for us going into the bye week. We showed again how gritty we are to come back from losing the lead in the second half,” said Neighbour, whose club scored on the last play of the match to win two weeks ago at Queens.
“We should be proud of the way we responded.”
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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure is a community committed to transforming the lives of its students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a commitment to academic excellence and lifelong civic engagement. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #8 for value and #19 overall by U.S. News and World Report (2025).