Wednesday: Feb 22
7:00pm – Recruits Meeting (yes everyone else must attend, attendance will be taken)
Where: Emmanuel Classroom Rm 111
8:00pm – Backs
Evans Way Auditorium
8:00pm – Forwards
Simmons Gym
Thursday: Feb23rd
8:00pm – Forwards
Evans Way Auditorium
8:00pm – Backs
Simmons Gym
Sunday: Feb26th
9:00am – Full Team Practice
Mass Art Gym
(There is a chance if I hear Sweeney field is available and we will use that – eboard is supposed to find out before Friday this time)
Where: Emmanuel Classroom Rm 111
When: Wednesday Feb 22th,2011
Time: 7:00pm
Thursday Feb 16th
Depart 6:30PM
Sunday Feb 19th
Mass Art Gym 9:00AM
Weeks to follow (Until we get practice space)
Monday Fitness
Simmons Gym 7:00PM
Thursday Fitness
Simmons Gym 7:00PM
Sunday Practice
Mass Art Gym 9:00AM
Wentworth Women’s Travel to Nationals
Places 3rd at the NSCRO Nationals in Cherry Hill NJ
Saturday November 19,2011
WIT 22 – Carleton College 29
Woman of the Match- Cathy Ordile #12
After a good night’s rest and good breakfast, we headed to the pitch for check in. Watching the first game definitely started to get us ready mentally for the game at 1:00pm. Both teams started this match not knowing what to expect from their opponents, but after about 12 minutes, the WIT ladies realized they could totally contend and compete with Carleton College. WIT was the first to score, moving the ball wide and getting it out to their backs, allowing Claudette Bosman to score the opening try with help from some great ball movement and support. Shortly thereafter, Carleton College woke up too and scored two tries just before the half, making it 10 to 5 Carleton at halftime.
Still full of excitement and energy, the Wentworth ladies weren’t done. You could feel it in our half time chat. Granted, we knew we were down, but we also definitely knew we could come back from the score on the board. Due to a lucky breakaway, Carleton College scored within the first 4 minutes of the second half. Stepping up their game, the Wentworth ladies made Carleton work for the next two tries, and then responded with a try by our scrum half, Christine DiBiase. Using her direction to our forwards and backs, she finally capitalized on picking the ball and going: She scored the try right after a forwards crash, then a quick pick after the ruck. Elyse Bogacz, our number 4 and Christine’s fellow captain, converted the kick to make the score WIT 12 – Carleton 29.
You could tell, actually feel it on the sideline, that each and every lady on the pitch didn’t think twice about letting up. Score didn’t affect them at all… That really showed with only 6 minutes in the game: the ladies found that extra bit of heart that everyone could see! Carleton College thought they were done and could coast to the end of the game. Well, boy that’s a mistake when you play against my ladies. WIT attacked from all angles; forwards, backs, forwards, backs and then passing the ball out wide and looping. It was like everything we ever worked on came together. With plenty of team work, Cathy Ordile would end up scoring our next 2 tries. With only minutes left in the game, the score was WIT 22 – Carleton 29. And not to steal a quote from Vince Lombardi, but “We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time.”
Anyone and everyone who watched this game could tell you, these ladies played with a lot of heart, never giving up, never surrendering, and just leaving it all on the field. My parents even made it down for Nationals this past Saturday, and even they could see how well these ladies played this game. “Your girls are the best! When other teams would have thrown in the towel, your girls fought even harder, never giving up.” – Coach’s Mom
Even though we lost, we didn’t feel like we had, so we geared ourselves up to compete for 3rd place on Sunday. We headed back to the hotel, mended up injuries and iced, some of us did homework, and most relaxed. President Sarah Brunelle and I had previously decided to surprise the team for whatever game we had to play on Sunday. As a morale booster, and quite honestly because we couldn’t keep it quiet anymore, Sarah and I presented the team with our new jerseys at dinner that evening!
Saturday November 20,2011
WIT 19- St. Bonaventure 17
Woman of the Match – Claudette Bosman #13
Stepping onto the pitch Sunday morning at 9:30am, you could feel the confidence the players had. Looking good in our new jerseys and fired up to take home 3rd place, we started off this game with Cathy Ordile scoring the first try, and also converting the kick. Reading the way St. Bonaventure plays their defense, we capitalized on crashing our forwards and breaking through several tackles at a time. Attacking this way, Wentworth was able to draw players in and then break the ball out wide. Then we scored another try, with a great run by Elyse Bogacz.
We started a couple of new players this game and we saw some exciting plays. Amanda Petruzzo, Alex DeMasi, and Brittany Pietruszka are all exciting new young players who stepped up to the challenge, and look quite promising for the future. Brittany definitely surprised us all with some amazing runs in this game.
We kind of thought we had the game, and let up a little in the first half. St. Bonaventure capitalized on that to make the score at half time St. Bonaventure 12 –WIT 14. Not winded and ready to go, both teams came out into the second half fired up. St. Bonaventure would be first to attack and scored a try 5 minutes into the half. WIT tackled and rucked some great rugby! Throughout, I believe both teams we confused at some of the referees calls; even the other coach didn’t agree with some of the calls against us. Despite that, WIT continued with what seems to be their tradition of never letting up. With 12 minutes to go in the game, Cathy Ordile scored again, but we missed the conversion, making the score WIT 19 – St. Bonaventure 17. Wentworth continued to attack and drive down until the very end, and St. Bonaventure would come back fighting as well… Some great rugby was played towards the end of this game until Wentworth kicked the ball into touch after penalty to end the match.
Placing first in New England and then placing 3rd at Nationals this weekend was definitely a great end to an amazing Fall Season of rugby. It is also a great feeling to have only lost to the team that ended up winning Nationals (on Sunday, Carleton College won the Division 3 NSCRO Nationals against Lock Haven). These players built off one another all season, and I saw many people grow and bond with many new friends. I am proud of each and every one of these ladies… These wins didn’t just come from the 23 man roster we had for nationals, but from all 35 ladies on the team. All our players pushed their teammates in practices and games, and supported one another like a team should. As a coach, you try and get everyone on the pitch and give them playing time, and I am finally glad I have so many contenders for a starting line or first sub. It makes my job hard, but at the same time, makes everyone push for that starting spot. I really look forward to our up and coming rookies and vets for future seasons. They all helped get these seniors and all their teammates where we are today.
The WIT President and I decided to surprise the team with the new jerseys arriving.
Click on image to enlarge.
So I scheduled this post to show up Sunday… Players are being surprised at Nationals!
Awesome match! WIT ladies stepped up on the pitch and fought a back and forth battle, from scoring the first try to scoring the very last try. This team has soo much heart, and every coach, player, ref, and fan all noticed today! With just minutes to go in the game the WIT ladies drove down the field, but ran out of time. But they never gave up, never surrendered, and gave it their all.
Looking to take on St. Bonventure for 3rd place tomorrow!
Coach
Nationals Next weekend in Cherry Hill, NJ!
The Wentworth ladies won 12-7 today in overtime against the strong Western Connecticut team. Both teams battled back and forth, with WestConn striking first and then WIT scoring just before the half. The 2nd half was scoreless for both teams, and WIT was on the attack most of the time. In over time with two 10min halves, WIT scored a try and then held WestConn off till the end of the game.
Game Details:
On a sunny Saturday afternoon, the Wentworth Women’s Team hosted Western Connecticut State College for the D3 Championship Match. With a 2:00pm kickoff, players were well rested and ready for the day’s match ahead. The Wentworth ladies stepped on the pitch and started off a little slow. Not knowing what West Conn could do, every player was a little hesitant, and early in the first half WestConn attacked and scored the first try of the game. WIT had a little breakdown on communication and were a little flustered in the first 15 minutes of the game. However, after realizing that they could take on WestConn, the ladies changed gears. Defense definitely stepped up, stopping WestConn from advancing anywhere on the field, and going into the offensive, they kept on attacking relentlessly. After plenty of scrums and driving through rucks & mauls, the forwards drove in for a try: With much resistance from the opposition, the forwards had a scrum just outside the try zone. Jullian Ruddock, in support off an eightman pick & go by Beth Nugent, scored the try with about 5 minutes left in the half. Cathy Ordile took her time and converted the kick to tie up the game.
In the second half, talk about a battle! With the wind and sun to their back, the WIT ladies realized it was our turn to run. The back line got the ball and starting to dash through the tough WestConn back line. With the direction of scrum-half Christine DiBiase, WIT’s offense drew WestConn’s defense in around the scrums. Christine would pass the ball out to her backs and totally catch the West Conn back line off guard. Knocking on the door over and over again, Wentworth maintained possession in the opposition’s half for about 80% of the remainder of the game, but WestConn had strong defense and kept us out of the try zone for the remainder of the game.
For the Championship match, we all know it cannot end in a tie. That being said, the official procedure is a 20 minute Overtime (OT) game. If at the end of the 20 minutes there is still no winning team, the teams will play another 20 minute “Sudden Death” game in which the first team to score wins. If all that fails to award a winner, then they go to kicks.
The Wentworth ladies weren’t about to let this go past the first overtime. Once again, with the wind and sun to their backs, the WIT ladies decided to dig really deep and drive downfield. After knocking on the door and several penalties by West Conn, the WIT ladies finally had WestConn on their heels with much determination, mauling, and offloading, and Marie Genova drove in what would be the game winning try. With a try under their belts, the ladies didn’t give up. In the second half of the OT, our ladies kept on the attack. Driving WestConn way back towards their try zone and never letting them out, the ladies showed we had the determination to win the game. Scrum after scrum and ruck after ruck, WIT kept on attacking. With only 2 minutes to go in over time, West Conn made a few solid attempts to get out of their half of the field. However, WIT wouldn’t have it. With possession of the ball, Wentworth slowed the game down and was driven out of bounds. Then my heart skipped a beat when I heard the last and final whistle of the game.
Talk about an amazing game and a solid game from both teams. WestConn was one of our toughest competitors of the season, and should be commended for such a solid game. As the WestConn coach stated, “It is unfortunate that there has to be a loser. But I was glad it was to you guys.” I was quite proud of our ladies performance and their determination to never give up. Our motto is “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop,” and wow, did we sure prove it this weekend.
We will be taking on Carleton College from Minnesota at Nationals this coming Saturday. Kickoff will be 1:00pm in Cherry Hill, NJ. Win or lose, we will be playing on Sunday as well for either 1st & 2nd or 3rd &4th. Obviously, our goal is to go all the way. I’m not sure if everyone is aware, but here’s a quick history lesson from a previous season: In 2008, our team had a rough season and was sent to Division 4. I informed the director not to send us down to Division 4, because it was going to be too easy, but we were sent down nonetheless. That year, Wentworth went undefeated and proved why we deserved to be in Division 3. We went all the way to nationals and only lost in our final match to Drexel University. It is definitely fulfilling to have this team, 2 years later, return as the top team in New England Division 3. I know that all the players and myself appreciate the support we got from everyone this weekend. We hope to see some of you down in Cherry Hill with us, and intend on coming home with some hardware.
vs
Saturday November 12,2011
Kickoff 2:00pm
Clifford Playground
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