Inside This Issue
FRONT PAGE CAMPUS & COMMUNITY ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT FEATURES SPORTS OPINION BACK PAGE CONTACT US ABOUT USWomen's rugby team wins national championships
BACK, from left: Club Advisor Patrick Rogers, Ashley Carrington, Tiana Cross, Satu Lord, Jessica Mott, Jules Jacovini, Miranda Ingram, Trina Guaraldi, Nora Wynter, Miranda Giles, Coach Don Allen, co-captain Aly Finn. FRONT, from left: club vice-president Muzzy Wronski, Belinda LaFountain, Paige Libby, co-captain Molly Banks, Amara MacKillop, Mikala Frenette, Taylor Brown and Coral Bolio.
( Photo courtesy of JSC Women's Rugby Club)
The Johnson State College’s women’s rugby team traveled to New Jersey on Nov. 20 to conquer previously undefeated Albright College of Pennsylvania 12-5, returning to Vermont as the national Division IV champions.
Center Nora Wynter , a junior at JSC from Tinmouth, Vt., won Most Valuable Player honors.
It was a storybook ending to a storybook season.
The win was impressive on many levels, not the least of which is that this was the team’s first year of competition and that only six of the members had previously even played rugby.
Calling it “a storybook season,” Coach Don Allen credited the players for working harder and playing better together than any team he’s ever coached – men’s or women’s. Allen coached men’s and women’s rugby at JSC from 2000 to 2005 and returned this year to coach the women’s team.
“You can’t start any lower and get any higher,” he said, noting that he showed up at the first practice to find three women “throwing a ball around.” He agreed to coach the team if they could get at least 10 others to show up at each practice. They did that and more.
As Allen puts it, “They were a unique group of ladies who took the game seriously and wanted to win, even to the point of practicing at 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. at least two times a week. They were the epitome of what a team should be.”
Allen singled out MVP winner Wynter for special praise, saying she was an “excellent rugby runner” who latched on to the game from the start. “At first it was all about Nora – she was all we had in offense and attack – but that didn’t last long,” he said. “The players quickly became the best team, and the best group of individuals, I’ve ever coached. These girls work extremely hard and have a passion for the game. That alone is the key ingredient for success, both on and off the pitch.”
Heading into the nationals, team captain Alyson Finn, a junior from Montgomery, N.Y., felt confident of the win. “You’d think a small school like JSC wouldn’t have a chance against the bigger schools, especially since we’re just a club sport – but we do. We always go at it as hard as we can and with the attitude that we’re going to win,” she said.
The current incarnation of the Women’s Rugby Club at JSC started three years ago, but this was the team’s first year of competitive play.
“The team has really come a long way since I started at Johnson State College,” says Finn “The girls work really hard and it pays off.
Hard work aside, Finn also cited a very tight bond between team members as a crucial role in their victory. “When you go out on the pitch on game day you aren’t just with 15 other players. You are with 15 of your closest sisters,” she said. “When one of you goes down hard you all feel the repercussions. The hard part isn’t getting back up. It’s staying calm and collected.”
Junior Satu Lord saw the win in New Jersey as a vindication of the ruggers’ collective respect for each other, their opponents, and the game. “To be honest, I wasn’t so sure if we’d win playoffs,” said Lord. “But finals, I knew we’d win, especially with the other teams being so disrespectful to us. I knew that we showed the respect that our opponents deserved and therefore showed that we earned this championship. A little bit of karma and hard work went a long way.”
