Women’s rugby team heads to playoffs

Acacia O'Connor Sports Editor

The Vassar women’s rugby players are no strangers to being hit, tackled and thrown around. The upcoming weeks, however, will require all of that toughness and more, as the women are tested in the National Rugby Union Championship Tournament.

This past weekend, the Brewers and seven other schools competed in the Metropolitan New York Rugby tournament semifinals held at Vassar College. Each team hoped for victory and a chance to continue their seasons. Vassar succeeded in this mission, along with Army, SUNY New Paltz and Marist College, earned the right to play another day.

The Brewers first met Fordham University, whom they had already defeated 17-5 in mid-October. The Fordham team was not unworthy, fighting back from behind and keeping close enough to make the Brewers uncomfortable. The Vassar team played strong and prevailed with a final score of 27-20.

With the win, the team secured a place in the Northeast Rugby Union (NRU) Playoffs.

That afternoon, Vassar faced Army in a battle for seeding and the advantage of a home match in the next round. This was the Brewer’s second shot at the strong Army team. In their first meeting, on Oct. 22, the women found a formidable opponent in the Army squad. Though both teams played to their abilities and the game remained close throughout the second half, the Cadets had an edge on the Brewers. The game ended in Army’s favor, 20-12.

In their second meeting in eight days, the Brewers hoped to expose some of the West Point team’s tactical weaknesses. This proved difficult because of the sheer athleticism and strength of the Army women. The Cadets penetrated the Vassar defense to score a try within the first minute of play. From then on, it was Army who controlled the tone of the game, scoring three more tries and leading 32-0 before the first and only Vassar try was scored by All-American honoree Danika Oriol-Morway ’07.

The next step for the Brewers will be a quarterfinal match against the State University of Massachusetts at Amherst this Saturday.

“I’m confident we will win,” said Oriol-Morway, “but it’s not going to be an easy win…We have to win to get to where we want to go. It’s definitely going to be very hard for us the next two weeks and very stressful.”

What will make this weekend and beyond most stressful for the Brewers is the prospect of facing the Army squad yet again in the NRU Championships. If both teams win this weekend, they will meet again on Nov. 12. Although a win against the Cadets is by no means impossible, they have an edge that the savvy Brewer squad finds hard to compete with, at no fault of their own.

The West Point advantage

Since West Point developed its women’s rugby program in 2002, the team has steadily become increasingly successful. Last year, they had a strong season, losing twice to the Brewers, including once in the Metropolitan New York Championship. This year, however, the Cadets have become a powerhouse.

“As soon as [Army] started their program, I said within two years they’d have the best team in the Northeast,” said Vassar rugby coach Tony Brown. “For us to even compete with them is going to be tough.”

Army’s advantage is largely a matter of scheduling. At West Point, all cadets attend classes until 4 p.m. at the latest. From 4:30 until 6:30 every day there is a mandatory activity period for all cadets, during which time they must participate in some activity, most frequently an athletic one.

From 7 p.m. onward, the cadets have study hours set aside for them to do their homework. This sort of daily schedule lends itself to successful sports programs and liberates the cadets from the scheduling conflicts that often afflict Vassar athletes. The pre-term physical fitness training certainly doesn’t hurt either.

“We have the best strategies of any team out there,” said Oriol-Morway. But when it comes to Army, “Intensity is a big thing,” she said. “There’s just a different level of intensity at schools like West Point. We’d be the best team if we were more athletic. The teams who beat us are huge, super-athletic schools.”

Brown noted that, on the other hand, the Vassar squad, rarely, if ever, practices all together. Planning a practice around the diverse schedules of 30-some student-athletes is an impossible task. And because rugby is an outdoor sport it leaves only a certain number of hours each day when practice can take place.

Stepping up to the challenge

Army presents a challenge unlike any the Brewers have faced in recent years. The Vassar women have won seven of the last eight Met. NY Championships. Last year, the team was ranked tenth nationally out of a pool of 333 women’s rugby programs in the United States, over 100 of which are Division I teams. Last month, the women were ranked number 12 in the nation. Despite being a club team from a small school competing against Division I powers, Vassar has become a dominant force in inter-Collegiate rugby. This season the Brewers have a record of 8-2-0.

“Of the 24 Division I rugby teams in the Northeast, I would say only six or seven of them really challenge us,” reported Brown. As far as Army is concerned, “they are raising the bar for us,” Brown said.

Though Brown and the team play to win, they are realistic about what they are up against. Oriol-Morway, who leads the Brewers with 15 tries this season, said there was only so much to be done against the Army women. Oriol-Morway described one Cadet opponent as five inches taller, faster, leaner and as having a 30lbs. muscle advantage.

“There’s just not much you can do against that,” said Oriol-Morway.
Still, the Vassar team and women’s program both are as formidable as they have ever been.

Both Brown and Oriol-Morway said their main strengths lie in their game knowledge and in the experience of the veteran backs.

“A lot of us have been playing together for quite awhile,” said Oriol-Morway. “That really helps; to feel comfortable with the people you’re playing with.”

The squad is also young, which Oriol-Morway said bodes well for the continuing success of the program in the near future.

According to Brown, attracting skilled athletes will be necessary in order for Vassar to remain competitive against teams like West Point in the future. While the women are smart, enthusiastic and well-coached, those attributes can only take the team so far.

“If you do good things and bad things,” said Brown, “you’re going to win if you’re more athletic.”

Any and all disadvantages aside, Brown is hopeful and the women are excited about the up-coming games.

“We need an error-free day against Army, certainly,” Brown said. “If we do the things we talk about we can win.”