women’s rugby team looking for another win

UVSC on Saturday in a game that will help determine if the Aggies go to nationals. The Wolverines are the only team in the region that would stand in the way of USU getting a bid to the national tournament. Team captain Whitney Doe said all other teams in the region cannot qualify for nationals. “BYU won’t play on Sunday, the Salt Lake City Slugs aren’t a college team and we never have a problem with Idaho State, so it always comes down to UVSC and us,” she said. Saturday’s showdown comes after the Aggies lost to the Cougars last Saturday. “It was just a messy game,” head coach Michele Olpin said. “We had opportunities to score but we didn’t take advantage. “Hopefully it will be a wake-up call for the team to go out and play hard this weekend and win.” Olpin said the biggest problem the team had against BYU was motivation. “I think we were a little too confident,” she said. “We hadn’t lost to them in three or four years. We’ll be more prepared this weekend.” Doe said even if the team loses Saturday, it can still qualify for nationals by winning its second match against UVSC on Nov. 12 in Orem. “If we lose and win next time then whoever had more total points gets to go,” she said. “We’ll still have a chance, but this game will set the tone.” Olpin said the team lacked continuity during the BYU game so she will try to keep more players in the game for longer. “We didn’t play as a team at all,” she said. “There were some position changes but we’re going to cut down on those. We’re going to try to have the same girls in for the whole game.” Olpin said that decision is much more difficult to make for a club team. “There’s a line between playing to win and playing to play,” she said. “It’s hard to keep a club together when they’re not getting playing time.” She said this and the fact that the players have school to worry about as well as rugby has caused a high turnover rate on the team in the past. Olpin said the high turnover has meant the team has a lot of rookies this year. “It’s important that we keep the good players,” she said. “It’s hard to start each season with a new team.”-bhhinton@