Rugby team needs win to qualify for nationals
For the past two years, the women’s rugby team has gone to the Pacific Coast Playoffs. Last year, it got as far as the Elite Eight.
This year, however, they’re looking for more.
“I’ve thought about winning nationals. I thought about it last year and the year before,” Erika Hansen, the vice president on the team, said. “It’s been our team goal all year. [But] we can’t think too far ahead.
“If we can’t win this weekend, then our season is over.”
Junior Brooke Lambert said the Aggies will qualify for the national tournament if they win both of their games in Palo Alto, Calif., this weekend.
The Aggies will first face San Jose Saturday. Depending on whether or not they win, and who is the winner of the other game, the Aggies will next face either Western Oregon or UC Santa Clara on Sunday.
Two years ago, Lambert said the Ags fell to San Jose by five points in the playoffs. This year, she expects a different outcome.
“If we just play our game and play as a team like we have been doing then we should be fine,” Lambert said.
Hansen said the Ags are kind of blindly going into their game Friday. She said they haven’t faced San Jose at all this season, so they don’t really know what to expect.
“We’ll just come out and play our game,” she said. “We know how to play. When we go out and have fun and just play our game we always win.”
Utah State earned its spot in the tournament after taking first place in its division, the Utah Rugby Union, proving themselves, Lambert said, to be one of the better teams in the Pacific Coast region.
Lambert said defense has been the key to the Aggies’ success and if the Ags can keep working together.
Both Hansen and Lamber said Utah State should have no problem with San Jose.
“I’m really very excited and feel pretty confident,” Hansen said. “We have a strong team really come together past few games and have been working out some kinks.”
“We have very good defense, and we work well as a team,” Lambert said. “We’ll just have to see how it goes. It could go either way, but I really think it’s going to depend on who wants it more.”
Lambert said Utah State has tried to prepare for the game by traveling to California and facing a lot of teams there.
She also said the team has been working hard all season, and is ready for this opportunity.
Although the team hasn’t been preparing specifically for their games this weekend or for nationals, she added that the games have definitely been in the back of the team’s minds all season.
“We’re all just really excited for this game,” Hansen said. “We’re just ready to focus on this weekend, [but] we’re taking it one step at a time.”
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu
Jen Beasley contributed to the story.