Women’s Rugby prepares for second straight berth in National Sweet 16

Women's Rugby prepares for second straight berth in National Sweet 16

For the second year in a row the Women's Rugby team will travel to Sanford, Florida with hopes of winning the DII National championship. The ladies face highly rated and '09 final four finisher, Washington State in their first match on Saturday, April 17th at 2pm.

 "Last year was a tremendous ride for us," commented Head Coach Derek Jenesky "but we feel like we have some unfinished business.  The season did not end the way we wanted it to, and my hope is that it motivated us through the winter."  Last year's reference was to the 29-5 loss that was handed to the ladies in the DII national Championship game, ending the teams 38 straight regular season and playoff game winning streak.

This year's team made it back to the tournament in somewhat amazing fashion as they rallied to beat Radcliffe late in the second half of the Northeast Regional's to punch their ticket.  The ladies trailed 10-0 with 20 minutes remaining after having been thoroughly dominated for the first 60.  Scores by scrumhalf Maeghan Kilfoil ('11), wing Deborah Caruso ('11) and second row Madeline Schissel ('11) gave the purple and black another unbelievable comeback win.

"This year's team is completely different from last year's team, "continued Jenesky, "We have different leaders, different styles, and a different attack plan.  We still have lot to learn about playing for each other, but I am confident you will see a much better team as we head to Florida."

The team is led by Captains, Junior #8 Brittany Roy, and Senior outside Center Alyssa Bibeau.  Offensively, the bulk of the scoring comes from Junior Flanker Ashley George, Junior Inside Center Katie O'Malley, and Junior All-American Fly-half Laura Fischer.  Defensively, Senior Prop Tatiana Javier, Senior Fullback Megan Darnowski, and Freshman Morgan Segale lead the tackling charge.

Jenesky knows it will be a tough road to get back to the national championship game.  If the ladies are successful in Florida, their semi-final match will pit them against the nationally #1 ranked Cadets of Norwich University.  The two teams met twice in the Fall '08 playoffs, with Stonehill prevailing both times, 25-19 in an epic New England semi Final, and again one week later in another  nail biter , 22-14 in the Regional championship game.  This year the team from Vermont turned the tide on the ladies, turning a 24-16 game with 20 minutes remaining into a 43-16 rout for the New England championship.  "Norwich is a great team with very few weaknesses," added Jenesky, "but we cannot worry about them right now.  We need to focus on winning our two games in Florida, for a shot at playing them in the Semi-Finals."

The ladies' first round opponent will be an extremely tough test in Washington State.  The Cougars were also a national semi Finalists in  '09 but lost to Shippensburg in their first game in California.