Every American either watches or at least knows about football, especially this time of year. Every Sunday in the fall, millions of Americans turn on FOX and or CBS, and now even NBC to watch players like Terrell Owens and Randy Moss score touchdowns, and offensive and defensive linemen battle in the trenches where the real football takes place. Depending on whom you ask, “football” can mean actually a number of different games. Consequently our football is actually descended from rugby football, better known as rugby. Instead of touchdowns, its trys, and scoring trys was something the West Chester Women’s rugby team obliviously did quite well this fall.
The fall 2007 season was an overall positive one for the West Chester Women’s rugby team. A big highlight was their first game of the season with them playing Eastern Illinois and beating Eastern Illinois in the first ever official NCAA Women’s rugby game. The game was an intense thriller with the Lady Rams edging Eastern Illinois by one point for a 20-19 finish.
That may have been their closest margin of victory, but certainly wasn’t the only win of the season. In their second game, they blanked Princeton 17-0. Remember the name Princeton- you’ll see it again soon as you read. In their third game of the season, the Lady Rams defeated Shippensburg 12-5.
Remember Princeton? Well, the Lady Rams did, entering their final game of the season, which also happened to be for the EPRU Championship. Going into the game, they were 2-0 vs. Princeton in the team’s last two meetings, including the 2006 EPRU Championship. West Chester kept the good times rolling, and made some more winning memories as they defeated Princeton for the 2007 EPRU Championship by a final of 19-5, becoming two-time EPRU Champions, and repeat champions over Princeton as well in the big game. Overall the Lady Rams rugby team finished the season with a 5-2 mark. A winning season culminating in a championship.
The team will be off for the winter, but they won’t be hibernating. They’ll be preparing for the spring season which opens up in March. The Lady Rams reached the national quarterfinals of the USA Rugby tournament last year. They hope to repeat that feat this spring, and take it even farther, potentially even to a championship. Given their past winning ways, the West Chester Women’s Rugby team has a good shot at winning any contest they find themselves in.
Dan Donahue is a first-year student at West Chester University. He can be reached at DD641211@wcupa.edu