Short handed rugby team loses in first playoff game
The Utah State women’s rugby team will not be going to nationals after losing its first game of the Pacific Coast Playoffs in a 25-8 rout at the hands of San Jose on Saturday.
The Aggies were forced to play with only 15 players – the total number needed to field a team – after Amy Armstrong was notified that she was ineligible to play prior to the game.
Armstrong was disqualified due to collegiate rules regarding how many years a player may play, according to teammate Erika Hansen.
Head rugby coach Patti Kohler said the lack of depth in the roster played a big role in the loss.
“We had gone to the tournament anticipating winning, so it was a tough loss,” Kohler said. “It wasn’t a fun game.”
Hansen, a senior, agreed that being shorthanded in the game had a lot to do with the loss, but said she thought the team did the best they could under the circumstances.
“We had to do positions we aren’t used to practicing normally,” Hansen said. “We need to do a better job recruiting people next season so next time we can take 30 people.”
Junior Brooke Lambert said the recruiting focus needs to be shifted to getting underclassman involved.
“We get a lot of girls that are older that leave after a year. We have to work on getting younger girls,” Lambert said. “We were just thinking about playing this season, we weren’t looking ahead to next season.”
USU went on to play a second game in the tournament Sunday, defeating the University of Santa Cruz 8-2 despite no longer being in the hunt for a spot at nationals. Even though the results were academic, Kohler said she was happy to see the team go out and fight.
“They still came out and showed everybody that they can play rugby,” she said.
Lambert said that the team hadn’t played as a unit versus San Jose and was able to fix that when they played UC Santa Cruz.
“We all realized that we had to play together,” Lambert said. “We talked about it on Saturday, and that really helped on Sunday.
Hansen said she is pleased with the team’s overall performance this season.
“It was a hard season, a lot of ups and downs, but a lot of people really improved their game and stepped it up,” Hansen said. “I’m proud of our team.”
The Aggies still have one game left to play this season. They face the Salt Lake Slugs, a club team, on Saturday.
-jenbeasley@cc.usu.edu