Photo: Colby Gaines
BY: AARON TARQUINO, SPORTS STAFF
11-0. A national championship. 651 points scored. Those are some of the accolades the women’s rugby
team accomplished last season in Division III. Jumping up to Division I this season, the team is looking for more of the same.
“Our biggest motto is to get 1% better every practice,” junior rugby player Jaylei Wagstaff said. “We’re very motivated as a team.”
That motivation hasn’t cost them a game yet.
The Bonnies have won by an average of 105 points against their first three opponents, all while allowing zero scores total.
Head coach Meredith Pyke said this comes from their teamwork and collaboration.
“They’re figuring out their connections,” Pyke said. “All 15 are put in positions where they know how to be weapons.”
While scoring over 315 points so far, it isn’t just SBU’s offense that’s played aggressively; coach Pyke said that they play defense with one goal in mind: to get the ball back.
“We’ve been talking a lot about not playing defense passively,” Pyke said. “As opposed to letting the [opposing] team play with the ball and have their turn.”
This suffocating defensive strategy is why no team they’ve faced so far has been able to put a number on their side of the scoreboard, even while going up against Kent State, their first Division I opponent since moving up, said Wagstaf.
“It was a bit of a faster-paced game, but other than that it wasn’t anything overly different,” Wagstaff said. “We were putting in the work in practice… to make sure we expected a challenge.”
Wagstaff said the team’s communication also contributes to their success.
“We work very hard on communication, on and off the field,” Wagstaff said. “That’s something we really try to emphasize on in practice.”
On Saturday, the team goes up against an undefeated Walsh College (3-0). In its first year with a DI women’s rugby program, the Bonnies have defeated top colleges like Ohio State and Pittsburgh.
“We’re going in very humbled but very realistic,” Wagstaff said.
Last year, more than 15 players from the now-defunct Notre Dame College in Euclid, Ohio came to Walsh to play DI rugby. Last season, Notre Dame College lost to 1 seed Michigan in the Division I Collegiate Rugby Championship.
For Walsh College, the Cavaliers are looking to go undefeated in their first-ever season. For the Bonnies, they’re looking to prove that they are worthy of their Division I spot, and defeating the only other undefeated team in the ARU gives a big statement to the rest of the league.
Fans can watch the Bonnies face the Cavaliers at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5 at the Marra Athletics Complex.
tarquiap24@bonaventure.edu
