By Zach Waltz
Sports Editor
The women’s rugby team improved to 5-0 on the season after defeating the University of Rochester 29-10 last Saturday in Rochester. The win puts the team in first place in the Empire Rugby Division Three West conference. The Bonnies have their first-round playoff game tomorrow at home at 3 p.m. against SUNY Plattsburgh.
Plattsburgh is ranked second in the Empire East after upsetting Clarkson, despite being dominant for the majority of the season, so the women’s team will have a difficult match up. Senior outside center Laura Clesse said the Bonnies are sticking with the fundamentals of the game to give them a competitive advantage in the match.
“We are working on the basics of the game,” Clesse said. “Going back to the basics allows us to apply old basic skills to more complex game style. Plus, we have had a ton of conditioning practices. That is the physical aspect. The mental aspect of this is to not let being division champions get to our heads. This is a tough team who wants it just as badly as we do. If we keep a level head and just play our game, then it will be a successful game. We all want to play our game, not theirs.”
Sophomore Luis Carpio, an eight man for the men’s team, has been helping coach the women’s team this year. He said the team has been preparing exceptionally hard for the game against Plattsburgh.
“We are just going through the cues and doing our job this weekend,” Carpio said. “We know that the stakes are high, but with a week of practice asking questions, high intensity, and paying attention to detail and sticking to the system, I can see the girls having a positive outcome this weekend.”
Despite it being the first round of the playoffs, Clesse said the Bonnies will not differ from their strategies that have gotten them through the season with a perfect record.
“Our strategy is like it always is,” Clesse said. “Tackle low and hard. Don’t give up. We can’t give any holes away, and we all need to talk. It’s a back-to-basics kind of mentality. Communication is key. If we do this, then our defensive play will give us the advantage to have a powerful offense.”
Carpio said the team has taken big strides this season towards being a competitive team. While they are taking each week of the playoffs one at a time, the team’s main goal is to win nationals.
“Since I’ve started coaching the women’s team last spring, the girls have improved an outstanding amount,” Carpio said. “As a coach, it makes myself and the rest of the coaching staff very proud to the see girls take what we teach seriously and execute it during the game. I’m proud to see the girls go undefeated and win their division. Next week is the first round of playoffs, so we are taking it game by game, but our ultimate goal is to win the National Championship.”
The Bonnies went two weekends without a match due to a game being cancelled and then fall break. Clesse said the chemistry on the team was a big part of why the team didn’t struggle on the field after an extensive break.
“We all have a job on this team,” Clesse said. “We all have to have trust in each other. When we all trust one another to perform our jobs to the best of our abilities, then we are able to have a successful game. “We may have had a couple weeks off, but it doesn’t mean that the trust in each other faded or that we didn’t practice our skills. This time off gave us time to better our skills and increase our trust in each other. In this, we were able to get the win.”
Having mastered the basics, Carpio said the team was able to work on more complex aspects of the game towards the end of the regular season.
“Going into the preseason, it was all about catching, passing, and tackling,” Carpio said. “Once we dominated those three major aspects of rugby, we were able to expand towards the principles of the game. It is true that the whole coaching staff has tried our best to put the team in a situation to be successful, but it couldn’t have been possible without the girls being coachable and highly motivated with great work ethic, and our captains have great leadership qualities.”
According to Clesse, the win over the Yellow Jackets was a huge morale boost for the women’s rugby team – one that could keep its positive momentum going through the playoffs.
“It gives us positive morale for the upcoming game,” Clesse said. “We’ve all worked hard this season, and it has paid off, but the journey is not over. Like I said, we have positive morale, but it won’t get to our heads. We are about to play teams that are the best of the best. We have to maintain a positive mindset when playing in these games. We play each minute of every game like it is 0-0, and we will keep that mentality throughout playoffs.”
