The women’s rugby season started out with a bang on Sept. 3 and 4 in Montreal, Que., during the Montreal Irish Tournament when the Cadets won four of five matches, which took them to the tournament championship.
The Cadets had little time to prepare for the tournament. “We had finished up three weeks of practice before the tournament,” said Head Coach Austin Hall. “Out of the 37 players that tried out this year only 27 attended the tournament.”
The women beat the Irish, 12-10. The Cadets recorded their first Montreal tournament championship title.
The majority of the play was in the Cadets’ side of the field and they held the 12-10 lead for the last 10 minutes of the game. Team captain Katie Hathaway was selected Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
The tournament victory helped boost team morale after losing its practice pitch due to Tropical Storm Irene.
When asked if this would affect the team’s ability to properly prepare, Coach Hall responded, “We will see. The school’s been great about giving us practice fields. We are setting up a new pitch to play on over on one of the practice football fields. Every day it seems like we have a different practice location but you know we will make due.”
The first game of conference play was on Sept. 17, when the women traveled to Rhode Island to match up against Bryant College. The Cadets won, 89-0. Another conference win was added to its record when the Cadets beat the Wildcats of the University of New Hampshire at Norwich over Parents Weekend. The team stomped past its opponent 81-0.
The women’s rugby team hosted Rhode Island on Oct 1, winning 34-0. Then it hits the road for two away games against Coast Guard on Oct 8 and Vermont on Oct 15.