Women’s rugby put into their place by alumni
It’s one thing to face a team with years of experience ahead of you.
It’s something else entirely to face the same team with half a team who has played just one game at a given level of the sport.
That was precisely the task facing the USU women’s rugby team Saturday afternoon at the west HPER field – and the result was one to be expected.
Behind three tries from 2010 USU graduate Lindsey Rowberry, the USU Women’s Rugby Alumni Team, comprised of many semi-professionals from the Salt Lake City-based Salt City Slugs, throttled a depleted group of current Aggies, 48-14.
USU (7-4-4) was missing three top players in Jessica Rich, Vanessa Avila-Esparza and Rheannon King, all of whom were in Montana at the Grizzly Invitational, an event where regional club teams evaluate the play of top women’s collegiate players. Additionally, two other players were missing due to injury or no-show, head coach Hannah Turner said.
It was the continuation of a stretch that saw the Aggies field five players for just their second-ever collegiate match, the first coming last week, as late fill-ins for previous injuries.
“When you throw (the new players) in against our alumni who have been playing for five-plus, 10-plus years, and they’ve been playing for a couple weeks, the balance isn’t really there,” Turner said.
It was an assessment the match’s leading scorer didn’t completely subscribe to.
“Having those other players probably would have helped them a little with the experience, but I don’t think three players shouldn’t make that much of a difference in the game,” Rowberry said. “We still would have won by a couple tries.”
Following the alumni performance, Rowberry’s stance is a difficult one to dispute.
Despite consecutive failed extra-point attempts, the alumni asserted themselves early with two scores in the first 12 minutes of the contest, the first coming from Rowberry in the fourth minute as she split the Aggie defense by slicing up the middle of the pitch for the early 5-0 lead.
Momentum shifted in the 14th minute when the alumni fumbled inches from yet another try. The miscue was returned by the Aggies to midfield before senior Ashley Clark scampered down the right sideline to cut the alumni lead to 10-7.
That was as close as the Aggies would find themselves.
Two more tries from the alumni squad rocketed them to a 24-7 advantage by the time the 25-minute stanza was complete. The second score came from Rowberry. USU had attempted a desperate chip kick just shy of midfield after there were no options to pitch the ball backward to perpetuate the play. After the alumni team fielded the quarter-field Garry Owen, Rowberry promptly took a teammate’s lateral and jaunted untouched down her own sideline shortly before the half came to a close.
Rowberry added another try in just the second minute of the second half to provide her team with a commanding 31-7 advantage. Junior Kylee Griffin recovered her own fumble in the try zone following a chip kick to slash her team’s deficit to 17, but the alumni added tries in the 17th, 22nd and 24th minutes to keep the distance.
Several on the alumni side, including head coach Brooke Lambert, said tackling issues most plagued the Aggies.
“Part of the reason why we won big is because we have faster, bigger girls, but Utah State also wasn’t tackling very well,” said the 2008 graduate. “That definitely played a factor for us, being able to break the tackles and continue with our runs. I’ve seen (USU) have better days, for sure.”
The part-time Slug couldn’t help but say experience also played a large role in the alumni’s blowout.
“We have a lot of experience on the field,” Lambert said. “Most of us have been playing since we’ve gotten to college, and there are still several that continue to play still. Utah State’s still a pretty young team.”
Despite the lopsided defeat, Turner said the game did provide a positive springboard for when the 2011-12 edition of the team debuts in the fall semester.
“Today, more than anything, with this being all the alumni here, we were able to focus on camaraderie and sportsmanship and those things that will bring all those girls back in the fall,” she said. “We hope not to lose them over the summer and hope to build relationships that can carry us further.”
– rhett.wilkinson@aggiemail.usu.edu