Women’s rugby team looks to rebound

team will face the Salt Lake City Slugs Saturday.

At the tournament, which USU won last season, the team beat Idaho State, but lost to UVSC and Boise State on tie-breakers. The Aggies were tied with UVSC and BSU at the end of regulation, but instead of an overtime period, the teams had a drop-kick shootout, which the Aggies lost both times.

“I’m counting them as a tie,” head coach Michele Olpin said. “The dropkicks are like a show-off skill, like shooting a basketball backward. We usually play an overtime period. We would have beat Boise [in overtime] for sure and we probably would have beat UVSC.”

Team captain Whitney Doe said the dropkicks were a terrible way to lose a game.

“It was kind of frustrating,” she said. “The dropkicks were a disappointment.”

Olpin said USU just couldn’t catch a break in Boise.

“It was a rough tourney,” she said. “It was cold and wet. Boise went on to win it and we outplayed them on the field.”

Also, BYU met Boise in the championship game and USU beat BYU in overtime on Sept. 17, Olpin said.

Doe said that despite the poor showing at the Snakebite Tournament, she believes the team will still do very well this year.

“I’m not worried about the rest of the season,” she said. “[The tournament] made us stronger. We’re a relatively new team. We’re still learning how to play with each other.”

Olpin said the Slugs will provide a challenge for USU’s new players.

“They’re a team that we definitely have to take seriously,” she said. “Most of the ladies on that team have been playing for 10 years and know the game inside and out.”

Doe said Saturday’s game should be competitive, but she is confident the Aggies will get back on the winning track this weekend.

“They are very experienced,” she said. “It should be a good game. They are a fun team to play. But I don’t think there’s a reason we shouldn’t win. We usually win against them.”

Doe said the Aggies and Slugs know each other very well because they are in the same, small rugby union with BYU, UVSC and Idaho State.

Olpin said she is pleased that the newer players on the team are doing as good as they are.

“They’re doing really well. A lot of them have picked up the game fast.”

-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu