Rugby Here and There | Sep 21, 2007

Penn State faces Long Time Rival Princeton, This Weekend
By Meredith Milligan, Collegian Staff Writer

After meeting Princeton at four national championships in the last 12 years, the Penn State women’s rugby team is prepared to once again face its long-time rival.

Penn State’s A-side will square off with the Princeton Tigers at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow at the East IM Fields with the B-side game slated to begin at 5 p.m.

The Lady Ruggers, coming off a scrimmage win over Clarion on Aug. 31, are excited to see what the new season brings.

“It’s the first game of the year; it’s a time to get comfortable with each other,” Penn State coach Pete Steinberg said. “We have new players this year, and it’ll be interesting to see our continuity.”

This past week at practice, the team has been focusing on team drills and working with forwards, backs and on scrums and lineouts. Steinberg believes his team is ready to “try new things before playing Maryland, American and Navy” later in the season.

Steinberg’s players are also ready to face Princeton because they will be getting a chance to see how they work together and play as a team.

“I’m excited to play them because we finally get to play someone other than ourselves,” senior flanker Alison Worman said. “We have a lot of new players this season; I’m excited to see what our team puts together.”

Although Penn State is anxious to start its season strong, Steinberg wants the players to remember Princeton’s strong rugby history. However, he thinks the Lady Ruggers experience will help them succeed on Saturday.

“Princeton has a fast team with good athletes,” Steinberg said. “They are a young group this year because last year was a rebuilding year for them. They will come out strong, but I believe our more experienced players will help us in the game.”

Coming off a national championship season, senior Nichole Lopes believes this game will test the team’s ability to compete together against tough opponents.

It will also measure where they stand as a team on both the A- and B-sides.

“This is a game that counts, A- and B-side are playing,” Lopes said. “This is a chance to see both sides and what we got.”

Rugby Player Magazine – The UK’s only free Online rugby magazine.

In this week’s issue (Issue 9):
Can Jonny Wilkinson help turn England’s fortunes?
Michael Jones on Samoa’s hopes.
Martyn Williams on the Shape of Welsh Rugby

Otherwise, please take advantage of our subscription service to ensure that you receive your next edition the moment it goes live.

Best regards,
Alex Bergin
Executive Editor
Rugby Player Magazine

Women’s Rugby All-Americans Named
from American Rugby News

USA Rugby has announced the Women’s Collegiate All-Americans for the 2006-2007 academic year. In this thirteenth year for the Women’s All-American program, players were selected based on their performance from the entire collegiate season.

Many of the athletes have repeated as All-Americans and others demonstrated their abilities with their respective territory’s Under-23 team.

Out of nearly 10,000 women playing college rugby in 2006-2007, 32 First Team and 35 Second Team All-Americans were selected by a committee, with players representing 38 individual colleges. Those chosen will receive a letter and a certificate from USA Rugby and their respective school’s club sports director will also receive a letter and certificate of recognition.

“The growth in collegiate rugby, its competitiveness and excellent quality of play continue to amaze us, thus making the committee’s decision process long and difficult,” said Women’s Collegiate All-American Committee Chair Alan Osur.

The committee consisting of Osur, Darlene Connors, Steve Murra, Nancy Kechner and Ellen Owens, represents a cross-section of rugby coaches and administrators. They received input from other coaches and administrators from across the nation and spent many weeks analyzing player performances.

The Women’s All-American program was started by the Collegiate Committee in 1995 and has grown over the years as the number and quality of the players and teams have improved. Back in 1995, there were 167 collegiate teams, while this year more than 300 collegiate teams are in competition. Between 1995 and 1998, the committee named only first team All-American selections, but since 1999 both first and second team players have been selected.

The Women’s Collegiate All-Americans for the 2006-2007:

First team:
Northeast – Kirsten Ahrendt (Dartmouth); Emilie Bydwell (Brown); Danielle Goodman-Levy (Vassar); Jennifer Hustwitt (Brown); Tess Kohanski (Syracuse);Dianna Le (Army)<
br />MARFU – Katy Black (West Chester); Kate Daley (Penn State); Elizabeth Inkellis (Princeton); Diana Klein (Penn State); Sarah Miller (James Madison); Carrie Perdue (Virginia); Alison Worman (Penn State)
South – Becky Urion (Florida)
Midwest – Sylvia Braaten (Marquette); Kassie Drey (Northern Iowa); Kristy Lear (Minnesota); Tiffany McCoy (Northern Iowa); Sarah Wilson (Ohio State)
West – Rebecca Barron (Texas A&M); Sydney Forestal (New Mexico); Jillion Potter (New Mexico); Gina Steffano (Texas A&M)
Pacific Coast – Olivia Anglade (Stanford); Katie Chou (California); Kelly Nielson (Chico State); Elaine Schlarb (Oregon State); Cameron Stewart (Davis); Jacelyn Tseng (Stanford)
Southern California – Phoebe Boone (Santa Barbara); Kelly Griffin (UCLA); Alexis Volen (San Diego)

Second team:
Northeast – Ida Bernstein (Syracuse); Emily Dupre (Northeastern); Aimee Gough (Radcliffe)
MARFU – Stephanie Burkhardt (West Chester); Allurie Kephart (Penn State); Lauren Rosso (Penn State); Alison Searle (Penn State); Emily Shiflett (Virginia); Siobhan Tiernan (Virginia)
South – Allison Fischman (Florida); Khadijah Glast (Clemson); Victoria Prader (Clemson)
Midwest – Schmarrah McCarthy (Purdue); Kathryn McCormick (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee); Amanda Rolling (Iowa State); Jessica Travers (University of Illinois)
West – Jennifer Ballinger (Colorado); Elizabeth Bryant (Texas A&M); Natalie Frank (New Mexico); Olivia Herdt (Wyoming); Rocio Ramos (New Mexico); Desbah Yazzie (Air Force)
Pacific Coast – Thania Balcorta (Davis); Megan Mendivil (Davis); Tara McBride (Chico State); Carey Myslewski (Stanford); Amara Reddick (UC-Santa Cruz); Rachel Reddick (Chico State); Alissa Sambucetti (California); Melissa Smit (Stanford); Megan Thompson (Western Washington); Caroline White (Chico State); Chelsea Willes (Brigham Young)
Southern California – Rosie Krauter (Santa Barbara); Kara Mathews (Santa Barbara)

Dallas Rugby Football Club Golf Fundraiser