Semi Finals: Win
WIT Ladies 59 – UHart Ladies 12
Fans & Ruggers,
On a wonderful New England Sunday, the Wentworth Ladies stepped on the pitch to take on the University of Hartford. It was a brisk, cool but comfortable day, and these ladies arrived composed and focused on the task at hand. I know I was on edge all morning, anxious to get to the pitch and play this match. But I have to admit, when I saw how cool and calm our captains were, I actually calmed down and got ready for the match as well. These are the kind of games we strive for, where each player steps up and does something better than the play before.
Starting with our forwards, our team was in way better shape and awesome in the loose field of play today. Then, our backs stepped up and moved the ball all over the pitch. Play after play, starting with our captain Elyse Bogacz, I saw our forwards lower their shoulders and boulder through the opposition. Then, she would pop the ball off to her support, whether it be Beth Nugent or any one of her loose forwards. “Crash and ruck” seemed to be the main theme for a great part of the first half. Then, once we’d tired out their forwards with our crashes, and by driving through quite literally 4 tackles at a time, we decided it was time to run on them. Our decisive scrumhalf & captain, Christine Dibiase, knew exactly when to get the ball out and decided it was time to use the backs, first crashing the ball inside with our very own Cathy Ordile and Madleine Makori, and then getting the ball out wide to any one of our wings or outside centers. Quite honestly, UHart didn’t know what to do, and I saw a lot of improvement from all of wings and centers from today’s game.
Overall, it was an amazing day and wonderful experience. I know every single player has been putting in the work to put the best 22 players on the pitch this season. Out of all 35 players on the team, each and every one has done their part in contributing to today’s win. This a team, not an individual, sport. Yes, there’s a great number of excellent individuals on this team, but it’s the entire team that earned today’s win. John Doody, the Division director, even stated it in his email “WIT used a strong set of forwards to power into an early lead, and despite some individual excellence from Hartford, WIT’s balanced attack proved to be too much.” That statement in itself really shows how well our team performed today.
I’m proud of every player who got us here, and can’t wait to take on Western Connecticut next Saturday. Still anxious, but definitely excited to see where this season can go. Please note… This Saturday’s game is for the NERFU D3 Championship. Whoever wins here will be going to Nationals on November 19&20 in Cherry Hill, NJ (Players – start talking to professors about missing that Friday’s classes, we would be traveling that day). Please visit http://www.eteamz.com/nscro/ if you would like more information on D3 Nationals.
Referee Report:
http://www.nerugbyrefs.org/schedules/match_report.cfm?match_id=8698
