By Taylor Nigrelli
Assitant Sports Editor
The women’s rugby team (4-2) will follow up a win over Fredonia (4-2) last weekend with a trip to Buffalo to take on the undefeated UB Bulls this Saturday .
According to Coach Tracy Schrems, Buffalo (6-0) will be the toughest competition the Bonnies have seen thus far.
“UB is drawing rugby players from 35,000 students, we’re drawing them from 2,000,” Schrems said. “We’re not very well matched university-wise and we expect them to give us a run for our money.”
However, Schrems and the Bonnies are not backing down from the challenge.
“I expect us to go in there and give them a good match,” Schrems said. “I expect us to play Bona rugby. Just because they’re undefeated doesn’t mean we can’t defeat them. Even David brought down Goliath.”
Graduate student lock Jess Misiaszek also expects the Bonnies to play tough against Buffalo.
“I expect us to score at least three times,” Misiaszek said. “UB has never given up more than 10 points. It’s our goal to get 15 points. We’re just going to try our hardest and play one of the best games of our lives. We’re ready.”
The game at Buffalo comes at the heels of a 14-5 home victory over Fredonia which put the team in third place in their division. The game was also the last home game for seniors. The win ensured the Bonnies their second consecutive undefeated season at home. According to senior fullback Jen Thomas, this was exactly the type of note the seniors wanted to end their home careers on.
“It’s a great feeling knowing we’re undefeated at home my last two seasons,” Thomas said. “It was great being able to end on that note.”
The win was the second in a row for the Bonnies and the second time they’ve used their new offense to defeat an unsuspecting opponent, according to Schrems.
“We shocked the hell out of them,” Schrems said. “They didn’t know it was coming at all, they didn’t know what to do with it.”
The offense allows the team to use its speed as a strength and take away the size advantage other teams have over the Bonnies.
“We’re not big, but we’re very strong,” Schrems said. “It’s very deceptive; they’re not big girls at first appearance. They’re small, petite and they are underestimated because they are extremely strong.”
Misiaszek believes the offense is effective in spreading the work load among all players.
“We used to always rely on our wings to carry the ball down the field and score,” Misiaszek said. “This wasn’t always the best idea because they would get tired, so we tried an offense where more scrums are involved, giving the wings more time to set up.”
The Bonnies will likely need any advantage they can get while facing UB at its home pitch. Even if the offense isn’t effective, Schrems isn’t anticipating getting blown out.
“They’ve been stomping on their opponents,” Schrems said. “We won’t be stomped on, that’s all there is to it. That’s not something that happens to us.”
