The first Saturday (March 22) in spring did not bring the nice weather that it is supposed to. Instead, it turned into a cold, windy day for the first game of the women’s rugby teams’ annual Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union tournament, which would be the determining factor in whether or not West Chester would end up in the National Tournament for the fourth year running. West Chester did not let the dreary weather bother them though, with a crowd of over 200 strong cheering them on to a 25-0 romping of James Madison University.The Lady Rams started off in their usual fashion, jumping out to an early lead, this time in the first minute of the game. The score came from freshman Brianne Feinhour, off of a great pass from the senior Megan Godfrey.
“Megan really did make the play happen, and she made it happen in classic 2 vs. 1 style,” Coach Tony DeRemer said of the play. “She committed the last defender after a lengthy run, and gave Brianne the pass for the score.”
He also added that in that sort of situation, it is tempting to just keep the ball and go in for the score yourself, but it was the right decision for Godfrey to get rid of it. After the failed conversion, West Chester was up 5-0.
After the first minute eruption, the Lady Rams slowed down a bit, keeping play back and forth in the middle for the greater portion of the first half.
Right before first half play ended though (this word should be omitted), senior star Whitney Hartshorne managed to break through and score the second try of the day. With Laura Meier’s successful conversion, West Chester went into the half with a solid 12-0 lead.
The second half proved that it was not just luck that had gotten West Chester to this point; these girls are good.
Again, the Rams started off immediately in JMU’s side of the field, which ultimately led to another try, this time by coming from another freshman Laura Meier, who converted the second try. Her break around the outside bumped the shutout to 17-0.
Towards the end of the game, James Madison started to get desperate, trying all sorts of things to get something started. This rush and panic led to two more scores from West Chester.
The first came off a penalty kick. JMU passed the ball forwards, giving West Chester a penalty kick, worth three points. Whitney Hartshorne took the kick, and succeeded, making it an even 20-0.
The last contribution of the day came off of a fumbled ball in the opposing end zone, on which senior captain Michelle Kirk capitalized on by falling on the loose ball and scoring the final try of the day.
“It wasn’t the prettiest game we ever played, but we’ll take it,” Kirk said after the game. “A win is a win.”
“The team played well in spurts today,” DeRemer said of the sloppy play. “We had too many unforced errors that will hurt us against the top level teams in the country. In the games that are ahead of us.the team needs to play flawless rugby to be successful.”
DeRemer is referring to the National Rugby tournament that will take place in four weeks in Albuquerque, New Mexico. With the win today, they have solidified a spot in the Sweet 16, with their final seeding determined by their performance next weekend in the semi-finals of the MARFU tournament.
That weekend will not be anything close to a piece of cake, as their first game is against the Division 1 National Champion Penn State, who are responsible for one of two losses sustained by West Chester this year, a 33-10 defeat during the fall campaign.
Determining the outcome of that game, West Chester will then take on the winner or loser of the Navy vs. University of Virginia match-up.
While Michelle Kirk said that the girls are extremely excited to be heading to New Mexico for the tournament, they are not looking past this weekend by any means.
“We’re all fired up to take another victory next weekend,” the captain said.
Ryan Frisco is a first-year student majoring in communication studies. He can be reached at RF648257@wcupa.edu.