The Women’s rugby team. Photograph by Christopher Heffernan.
The Golden Rams will be traveling to Houston, Texas to compete in USA Rugby’s Rugby 7s Collegiate Championships (R7CCs).
WCU women’s rugby will be competing in USA Rugby’s Rugby 7s Collegiate Championships for the second year in a row.
After going 3–1 in the Frostbite 7s tournament in February and finishing first in the WCU 7s tournament, the Golden Rams qualified for the R7CCs based on their performance.
At the start of the season, there was supposed to be one qualifying weekend for National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) teams, but that fell through. Long Island University (LIU) still hosted a tournament that day, the Shark Attack 7s.
Heading down to Texas, the Golden Rams will face some of the best teams in the country and look to perform well.
“We’re playing our best 7s that we’ve ever played right now so I think that we can really give these teams a game,” head coach Tony DeRemer said.
Some of the 15 other women’s teams attending the R7CCs include Lindenwood University, LIU, American International College, Penn State University, Dartmouth University, Harvard University and Life University.
“We’re tenacious, we want it and I think we will do pretty well in Texas,” DeRemer said.
The Golden Rams finish the regular season with an overall record of 9–5. They lost two matches to Penn State University (PSU) and Mount Saint Mary’s University (MSM). They lost one match to the United States Naval Academy (USNA).
WCU’s A-side scored a total of 39 trys and 20 conversions. They were successful on 51.2% of conversion attempts for a total of 40 points additional from the 195 points from trys.
Sophomore Brooke Crago led the team in scoring with nine trys and five conversions for 55 total points. Junior Emily Almoney was third in points with five trys for 25 total points.
Sophomore Elly Gorham led the team in conversion kicks with eight for a total of 16 points. Co-captains Faith Morley and Heather Spangler each scored three trys.
Of the 17 different players who appeared on the A-side, 15 scored at least one try or conversion for the Golden Rams.
Four different kickers combined for the 51.2% conversion success rate including Gorham, Crago and senior Vanesa Hasanhodzic.
Of the four tournaments WCU attended, they appeared in three championship games and won one.
“We really improved this year,” DeRemer said. “We started playing as a team and we’re really gelling together.”
The traveling roster as of April 21 is listed here:
- Alce, Christelle
- Almoney, Emily
- Arnold, Erica
- Crago, Brooke
- Gorham, Elly
- Hasanhodzic, Vanesa
- Hickey, Ty
- Kelekolio, Anne
- LaCosta, Katie
- Lasonio, Sofia
- McNicholas, Sara
- Morley, Faith
- Paul, Mariella
- Schweizerhof, Audrey
- Spangler, Heather
Ty Hickey second year media and culture major minor Chinese