Rugby splits games with BYU
Utah State men and women’s rugby clubs both faced off with BYU Saturday in Logan with different results.
The women shutout the Cougars 20-0 in the day’s early game, while the men fell victim to the No. 3 BYU 76-5.
For the women, Aggie Head Coach Patti Kohler said she was particularly pleased with her team’s effort against the Cougars.
“We’ve come a long way since the beginning of the season,” Kohler said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve beaten BYU, and to shut them out feels really nice.”
The lady Ags jumped out to an early lead as back Tara Earl scored back-to-back tries in the game’s first half. USU put together a long drive in the final minutes of the period, but the Cougar defense stiffened and prevented the Ag’s third try of the half.
At the midway point Utah State enjoyed a 10-0 advantage.
“We finally pulled together as a team,” Kohler said. “We have some great individual players and we’ve been working all season to get us playing as a team.”
In the second half the Ags didn’t slow down. Forward Sara Gilmore completed a penalty kick to cushion the USU lead. Back Carly Smith scored the game’s final try and Gilmore added the point after to give the Ags the 20-0 score they would end the game with.
Smith’s try, her first of the season, was substantiated following the game with the completion of the Zulu Warrior, a tradition in which a player who scores their first goal strips off their uniform and runs around the goal posts.
“I guess it sort of symbolizes not being a virgin rugby player anymore,” said club president Rachael Dennis.
Gilmore, a BYU transfer, finished the game with five points and said she was particularly ready for the matchup with her old team.
“I just went out there wanting to kill them,” Gilmore said. “It was a really mental game for us. BYU is our rival. We just beat them mentally and then we were able to work our magic on the field. It was sweet.”
For the men, the afternoon was not quite as sweet. Facing off against the No. 3 ranked team in the nation, the Ags were on the losing end of the Cougars third- largest victory this season.
Despite the lopsided score, player-coach Odie said his team was not entirely disappointed with their performance.
“The boys definitely showed a lot of character,” Odie said. “It was basically the best result we could have hoped for in the game.”
The Ags, who were held scoreless in the first half, scored their first and only try of the game in the waning minutes of the second period.
“The first half we didn’t do too well,” Odie said. “But the players didn’t get down on themselves when they were down and out.”
Both teams said they were pleased with the crowd turnout for both games.
“It’s nice to see this many people here,” Gilmore said. “It really makes us want to play harder.”
Next week the women’s team will face off with UC Santa Cruz, a team Kohler said she knows nothing about, in the Division II playoffs.
“We have things we need to work on,” Kohler said. “But we’re kind of past conditioning. You can’t do that in a week. But we’ve been working on controlling. We still have some control issues. We’re just going to come out and play hard.”
If the Ags win against Santa Cruz they will head to Ohio for the national championships, a trip that Kohler said might be difficult for the team financially without help from outside donations.
The men will face off with Weber State in Logan next Saturday, before taking on UVSC for the second time this season.
“It would be nice to have more guys out there next week,” Odie said. “We need to get healthy. We have a lot of guys in new positions, so we’d just like to get them in tune and try to end the year on a positive note.”
Both men’s and women’s games will be played April 3 on the HPER field.
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A Utah State Player drives into a group of Cougar defenders. The Aggies fell to No. 3 BYU 76-5 Saturday in Logan. (Photo by Scott Davis)