Eight USU rugby women to play on Utah national team
While most of the Utah State University women’s rugby team has this weekend off, eight players will travel to San Francisco to play on Utah’s national rugby team Saturday and Sunday.
Team captain Lauren Dreitzler as well as Jamia Gill, Jolynn Jones, Lindsey Lovell, Becca Ogden, Jamie Purcell, Rachael Ritchie and Courtney Sipherd were chosen last weekend at the tryouts held in Salt Lake City to play on Utah’s national women’s rugby team, Dreitzler said.
Only about 45 players from around Utah and parts of Idaho were picked to tryout for the team, she said. All eight players from USU at tryouts made the team.
Only 22 players actually made the team, Dreitzler said. That means more than one-third of the team is from USU.
“We’re not really nervous at all,” Dreitzler said. “We’re more excited than anything,”
The players were told to bring passports with them, Dreitzler said. If anyone is chosen to play on the Grizzly Shield, a professional team from California, they will be leaving right away for their first game in Nova Scotia. Playing on Utah’s national rugby team has not only affected the eight girls, but it has affected the whole USU women’s rugby team, Dreitzler said.
The Aggies will continue their season next Saturday when they play in Provo against BYU.