SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - Jendell Moe scored a try less than a minute in, a harbinger of things to come as the American International College women's rugby team made a statement in its home opener, dousing National Intercollegiate Rugby Association Division I opponent Sacred Heart University 43-7 on Sunday, September 14.

The Yellow Jackets are now 1-1 on the season; the win gives Director of Rugby Jameson Bonti his first behind the bench leading the women's team.

Camryn Henderson converted after the Moe try, giving AIC an early 7-0 lead.

Naomi Dodd scored the next two for AIC; her first was an impressive run through the right side of the Pioneers defense that came shortly after the Yellow Jackets were denied by being held up in the try zone. Henderson made the conversion on the try at 11:16.

Her second was even more incredible; receiving a pass after miscues pushed AIC back into its own end, she took the ball from just five yards above the AIC try line and sprinted past the defense, barely being touched on her way to the other end of the field for a score at 28:09, and Henderson knocked in the conversion again for a 21-0 lead.

Kiyanah Edwards then closed out the first-half scoring at 38:24, taking an offload from Dodd after a scrum and powering her way through two defenders for the try that made the score 26-0.

Henderson added a five to her trio of twos to start the second half, finishing a sequence with a quick run off of a ruck for a try at 2:52 after Dodd, Edwards, and Mahina Hafoka combined for nearly 50 yards off of a scrum in the middle of the field.

The Yellow Jackets put the dagger in in the next 10 minutes of play, as Edwards and SaTya Miller each scored; Edwards took a pass at midfield and burned six Pioneers forwards before pushing through three backs at the try line for five points at 8:30, and Edwards drove through on the left side to finish an offload from Dodd at 12:40. 

AIC was able to empty the bench and put all eight reserves into the game, and while the Pioneers did break the shutout with a try at 36:09, but the enduring image of the game was the final one: Sacred Heart nearly scored another try on a breakaway, but Angel Davis sprinted to close the gap and tackle the player, with AIC ultimately holding up the Pioneers in the try zone to end the contest.

The Yellow Jackets hit the road to West Chester University for the team's first NIRA Division II tilt on Friday, September 19 at 4:00 p.m.