Men’s and women’s rugby to play final games of season
With high expectations, the Utah State University women’s club rugby team will finish the season against the less experienced Weber State University on Saturday at 10 a.m. on the HPER Field, captain Lauren Dreitzler said.
This season the Aggies feel they have done fairly well despite losing some close games, she said. With the majority of the team returning next year they just need a little boost to push them even further.
“It will be a good game to end the season on,” Dreitzler said. “They’re a new team and we have a lot more experience which gives us the upper hand.”
The only concern USU has is playing at the level of their opponent instead of playing at their own level, she said.
This has been a problem throughout the spring season for USU and played a part in the two close losses to BYU and the University of Utah.
“It’s just a matter of us playing a steady game,” Dreitzler said.
During the last match between the two teams the Aggies were able to play their style the entire game and ended up dominating Weber. They are hoping to do the same thing again, she said, but are making sure they don’t get too over confident.
“I hope we’re able to end this season on a winning note to help everyone get excited for next season,” Dreitzler said.
Despite a few pick up games and practices, the Aggies will take the summer off after Saturday’s game and start up again in the fall.
In their last chance for a win this season the men’s USU club rugby team will also play against Weber, Saturday at 1 p.m. on the HPER Field.
The spring season has not been an easy one for the men’s rugby team.
So far Utah State has lost every game of the season and the commitment from the players has been fairly poor, coach Nev Pulotu said.
Since the season began the Aggies have been struggling with participation and have yet to hold a practice with all 15 starters present.
The players know all they need to do to improve for next year is show more commitment, Pulotu said.
“Even if our team was inexperienced, if they just practiced together then they would learn more and do better,” he said.
But things seem like they’re going to change next year for USU, Pulotu said, and it’s hopefully going to start against Weber.
The last time the Aggies met up with Weber they lost by one point and even then they were missing a few players. It was the first time the Aggies were defeated by Weber for a few years, which makes this game even more important for USU.
“For us this game is going to be a revenge game more than anything,” Pulotu said.
Despite being what Pulotu said is the worst year Utah State has ever had, the Aggies feel confident about playing Weber.
“More than anything else we want to finish this season off with a win so we can come prepared to play next year,” he said.