By Gavin Lindahl
Staff Writer
The women’s rugby club may have dropped its game to Brockport this past weekend, 35-0, but the scoreboard might as well not have existed. According to Coach Tracy Schrems, the team’s improvement on the field was better than any score could have been.
“I don’t care what the score said at the end,” Schrems said. “The improvement and progress on the field was outstanding and made me proud, and I can’t ask for more than that.”
According to Schrems, her entire squad dominated their positions last Saturday. Junior Corinne Lettieri especially stood out to Schrems.
“It was her first game back after a knee injury, but she was winning every scrum at the team’s hooker position,” Schrems said. “She played like a demon possessed.”
In addition to having Lettieri’s strong game back, Schrems was impressed with the play of her rookies.
“Hands down, freshman Summer Lauber and sophomore Sarah Metcalfe have come a long way,” Schrems said. “Summer has grown tremendously since she began, and she has never hesitated to jump in when a player got hurt. Sarah does it all. No one gets by her when she flanks.”
In addition to the play on the field, Schrems was also thrilled that none of her players were hurt in last week’s game – a first for the team.
“No one was injured,” Schrems said. “One of my season-long goals was reached.” Sophomore Rachel Noone credits the absence of injuries in this past week’s game due to the team’s emphasis on conditioning over the past few weeks.
“The injury situation is looking really good,” Noone said. “It showed us that the three weeks of conditioning really paid off.”
Recuperating from injuries was Schrems’ aim when she forfeited one of the team’s matches three weeks ago to give her players a chance to regroup and focus on conditioning.
“We were in the Richter Center running, lifting free weights, on the cardio and weight machines in an attempt to improve our overall fitness,” Schrems said. “It worked. They are in much better form than they were as is evidenced by the minimum injuries.”
The team has spent the week gearing up to face Ithaca in the last game of the season tomorrow. Schrems expects strong, clean and competitive rugby from her opponents as well as her own squad.
“The era of ‘thugby’ is over,” Schrems said. “All of the women in this league play good, tough rugby – they can expect the same from us.”
Schrems also expects a big and emotional game from her seniors, especially Kayla Cronin and Laura Calamia.
“As members of that state championship team, they were at the height of their rugby careers,” Schrems said. “And with this season, they’ve had to face losing and rebuilding. It’s tough.”
Despite the challenging season the ruggers faced, Schrems is already optimistic for next season as the club will be returning to Division III after two years in Division II.
“We’re only losing four girls to graduation and hopefully returning everyone else plus recruits, so I’m really excited,” Schrems said. “Stay tuned, because it’s going to be one hell of a season.”
