The Raleigh Venom traveled to face DC Furies II with 15 players. It somehow turned out to be both barely sufficient and more than enough in their league opener.
With no subs, the Venom built a quick lead and coasted to a 39-7 victory in a rainy game with plenty of hits to open with a road win.
The Furies managed a good deal of ball control, mostly thanks to their forwards, but the home side could not push through a first-half try and had no answer for the backline of the Venom, which scored all six of the team’s tries.
Winger Holly Zoeller put across two tries, the first of which put the Venom up 22-0 in the 27thminute after a conversion.
The Raleigh defense kept D.C. off the scoresheet until a No. 8 pick off a 5-meter scrum closed the gap to 22-7 in the 55th minute. But fly half Chelsea Garber scored the first of her two second-half tries five minutes later and the Furies never mounted an answer.
Inside center Jennifer Larrrimore kicked off the scoring six minutes into the game, and Tonya Fletcher made it 10-0 four minutes later. In the 20th minute, outside center Jessica Meidinger made it a three-score game, a gap the visitors would maintain throughout the rest of the afternoon.
-Kyle Jahner