Women’s rugby wins one game in first tourney of year
In its first tournament of the season, the Utah State University women’s rugby team gained more experience after winning one of three games in Pocatello, Idaho Saturday.
The all-day excursion began with a 36-5 win over Idaho State University, a team the Aggies felt confident about playing, said captain Lauren Dreitzler
USU controlled the majority of the match by using the things they learned in practice, she said.
“We were all working really hard and getting the balls to our wings,” Dreitzler said. “We were working together as a team.”
By using their team unity, the Aggies were able to get tries from four different players on the team.
Becca Ogden led USU with three tries, followed by a try each from Jamie Purcell, Lindsey Lovell and Brooke Lambert.
The second game, against the club from Salt Lake, placed the Aggies and their rookie team in a completely different situation, losing 25-0.
“It was really frustrating for us,” Dreitzler said. “We only have eight old players. The rest are new.”
Unlike ISU, which is a new team similar to USU’s, Salt Lake has a much more experienced squad and they played like it.
Salt Lake controlled most of the match, giving the Aggies only a few opportunities to score, which didn’t work out.
Given different conditions, the Aggies feel like they could do a lot better against Salt Lake, Dreitzler said. Aside from the new players being nervous, USU had to wait four hours in the heat between their first and second games, which took its toll on the players.
Following the match against Salt Lake, the Aggies gave up their second loss of the day to University of Montana, Missoula 19-14 in sudden death overtime.
The Aggies started out slow, falling behind 14 points in the first few minutes of the opening half but were able to keep momentum from scoring the rest of the half.
In the second half, the Aggies came out fighting and evened the score at 14-14 with two quick tries. The first try was earned by Erin Sutzman, followed by one which eventually sent the match into overtime. Purcell tossed the ball behind her to Michele Olpin who ran 10 meters for the diving try.
Having the momentum going into overtime, the Aggies felt good about their chances, Olpin said. But after Montana scored, USU found themselves defeated for the second time of the day.
“As a team we did really well, we had very few penalties,” Ogden said. “We were just a little nervous.”
Despite only winning one of three games Saturday, she said the Aggies still feel like a team that can accomplish quite a bit this season.
-CSMO@cc.usu.edu