Well that's cool...they're revising the All American Selection Process

So here is a mish mash of information garnered from a rugby nobody.

There's a new selection process with new people ranking it, Keenya Warner (who I totally gushed over at team registration in new mexico...but forgot that she was a center not a wing...btw I'm really glad I got the trading cards for the women's world cup team because I've met seven of them and was able to recognize the opportunity thanks to the cards) (I really ought to start getting them signed), Chris Ryan (USA 7s attack coach), and Sue Whitwell (forwards coach for the USA Developmental Team). They're going to pick two teams for DI and one team for DII. They're looking positionally. Yea....secret hope. But as my astute teammate pointed out...maybe if I'd have a chance if I was as fit/played as well as I had my soph or even junior year. Yea...thx teammate.

I'm still pinwheeling and horribly behind school-wise...just trying to recover and catch my breath during midterms. I'm going to be missing the championship games at Stanford 'cause my old fly-half is getting married. Or at least I don't think I'm going.

I still don't know which team I'm going to play for post-college...mostly because I have no idea where I'm going to be.

That also goes for summer...actually I have no clue where I'm living over summer or fall. I haven't actually decided whether I'm staying for summer...yeaaaaaaa about that. It's like losing the engage and getting driven back...I need to take the time and readjust my positioning...get my studs firmly back in the ground. Deal with school in the short term and make sure I pass my classes this quarter. Get back in study mode.

Rugby career wise I want to 1)get in shape (for the first time ever) 2)learn club level rugby (which means good coaching)...which leaves me with one option if I stay in NorCal.

oh some videos, gotta say I love both sides of women's rugby

Stanford...


GO Bre and Navy!

SLO...(not really 100% work safe)

The End of my College Rugby Career

Weird. I know that I should compose something...reflect, synthesize and summarize my four year run as a DII collegiate women's rugby player. But I can't...it's over. Yea there's a few more functions but all of these experiences are now part of the past. My family, my teammates, my homeland will now be a part of my past, an imagined non-corporeal space to be invoked but never returned to. I am now in exile.

Ok so back to the facts. I'm not all that upset that we lost, frankly we made it farther then I expected...I'm glad we won league...that was the only symmetry that I was seeking. It was nice to make it as far as 3rd or 4th in the nation. We won our first game 60-0 against Wayne State from Nebraska, the elevation was so bad that I forgot our lineout calls...we dominated possession anyways. I scored two tries. We scored all but one of our tries in the first half, we subbed at the half and "experimented" on running side to side (don't ask). Our second game against Shippensburg was obviously the kicker and we lost 12-7. They scored two in the first half and we just couldn't respond. It took a good twenty minutes to catch onto their scrum and then we started stealing all their put-ins (that's just how I roll). Unfortunately we couldn't do anything with our possession (but run sideways). They were PHYSICAL at the breakdown and could poach like pro cooks. We rallied in the first half and I scored our only try (just a penalty tap + a dive). Unfortunately the time just ran out on us. An easy way to put it is our strong people were to slow and our fast people were too weak for this match. Tons of injuries, our lock continued with a broken collarbone (lifting too...*wince*) and our inside fractured her elbow (and kept playing). The decision making on and off the field were pretty poor but meh. It's all over. I walked in my last game. I get to live with that for the rest of my life. Sucks. The knee on my striking leg is swollen to the size of a softball but it's just superficial, no ligament damage. My right wrist has limited mobility and my hammy nagged me even in the heat. My temple is throbbing where a knee clipped it. But I walked away from the game much to easily.

At least I played in my final game, at least I scored (more then anyone else on the team), at least I was making my tackles, and was stealing ball in scrums. It sucks that the team has turned into something where one can't get a "good job" unless you win. But that's why potential sucks.

Three cheers for the seniors.
Natalie Jacuzzi (the craziest funniest mofo I've ever met #15)
Michelle Sit (rabid sensitive chinchilla #6, #7, #8)
Cat Antonio (all heart loyal #7)
Lauren Lopez (my homo a gogo housemate prop lock and drop it)
Lynne Freeman (my dad, my best friend, two years and we're legally married #12)
Kerrie Kubo (me, woo #2)

I'm excited though, new chapter blah blah blah. Time to be a rookie again, build my way to the bench, maybe even start. I haven't decided which club I'll play for...Davis might start a team or we may rehab the amazons...or Fog...or maybe even Berkeley (but I doubt it). I do want to move to the bay...I have no idea what I'm going to do career-wise or ykno in life. But I'm pretty determined that this won't be the last time I'm at a USAR Championship. =] oh and a number of us are playing 7s in Palo Alto again. And we have goal....we're going to beat the Berkeley All Blues!!!! Fuck yea! Somehow! Mwahahaahaaaaa <-----total crazy joke (their 7s team last year was Ruth, Petrie, Blair, etc etc etc)

I'll be posting all sorts of media and crap. But yea I've really enjoyed playing NorCal DII Women's Collegiate rugby. I've had so much fun with the crazy muthas in our league from Sac State to Monterey so y'all better play club rugby 'cause I wanna play with you and against you again!

ps....no clue what direction this blog is going in...but it'll still be women's rugby, give me some feedback!

Off to the National Collegiate Rugby Championships of 2008

Yup, well wish us luck. And Belmont Shore. I'll be taking copious amounts of pics and videos so stay tuned. Let's bring it back to California...I wanna play a home game one last time =]

National Guard Collegiate Rugby Nationals (or whatever mouthfull you prefer) infogasm

Goff put up his annual predictions...and for once we're on top..but once again his predictions never matter because we all play very different types of rugby (not even styles...but types) and we'll see how things work out from there (we probably only got the nod because we've been rather good the last two years). I don't know if I'll say more because he is a subscription based site. What else on goff...oh he posted some guy's estimates on the number of collegiate teams in the US...so by my counting 329 women's colleges (versus 461 men's teams that's a lot more parity then I expected). Interesting stuff.

D1 and D2 are mixed and not demarcated but let's look at local available competition (and yes I realize other teams play out of state for games)

16 Women's Colleges in Minnesota with UM-Duluth
12 for ours in Norcal
61 in New England for Norwich (I'm pretty sure the Northeast has DIII women's collegiate rugby)
8 in SoCal for Claremont
9 in North Carlolina for East Carolina (yup that's confusing)
30 in East Penn for Shippensburg
4 for Wayne State in "the great plains"?
11 in the Pacific Northwest for Western Washington

and that rounds out the 8 in order of seeding...which allows for an interesting comparison. I will also repeat that it's just weird going to 8s without Mary Washington (they've made the last three).
----------------
More Geographic Stuff:


View Larger Map

----------------
Some info gleaned (ok copied) from USA rugby, I'm kinda glad our match isn't being streamed online...just because I'm superstitious. It's pretty considerate that they kept DII out of Friday matches probably because they understand the financial burdens an extra day would put on the clubs. One can also infer that there are going to be four fields of rugby. DII Women's is being sandwiched between DI women's and DI men's...and I'd be concerned about the fields getting torn up if they weren't apparently made up of dead ass dirt to begin with. Hopefully this satellite picture from google maps is outdated...





MATCH SCHEDULE
Friday, April 18
1:30: Dartmouth v BYU (DI MEN)
1:30: San Diego State v Arkansas State (DI MEN)
2:00: St. Mary’s v Air Force (DI MEN)
2:00: Bowling Green State v Kutztown (DI MEN)
2:30: Cal v Tennessee (DI MEN)
2:30: Army v Cal Poly (DI MEN)
3:00: Penn State v Minnesota (DI MEN)
3:00: Colorado v Utah (DI MEN)
4:00: Northern Iowa v Stanford (DI WOMEN)
4:00: Virginia v Colorado (DI WOMEN)
4:30: Brown v West Chester (DI WOMEN)
4:30: UCLA v UC Davis (DI WOMEN)

Saturday, April 19th

9:00: Penn State v Florida (DI WOMEN)
9:00: Chico State v Indiana (DI WOMEN)
9:00: Texas A&M v Cal (DI WOMEN)
9:00: Vassar v Navy (DI WOMEN)
10:30: Coast Guard v Loyola (DII MEN)
10:30: Michigan v Radford (DII MEN)
10:30: Middlebury v Northern Colorado (DII MEN)
10:30: Utah Valley State v East Carolina (DII MEN)
11:30: Norwich v Shippensburg (DII WOMEN)
11:30: Wayne State v UC Santa Cruz (DII WOMEN)
11:30: East Carolina v Claremont (DII WOMEN)
11:30: UNM-Duluth v WWU (DII WOMEN)
1:30: Winner of Dartmouth/ BYU v Winner of SDSU/ Arkansas State (DI MEN)
1:30: Loser of Dartmouth/ BYU v Loser of SDSU/ Arkansas State (DI MEN)
2:00: Winner of St. Mary’s/ Air Force v Winner of BGSU/ Kutztown (DI MEN)
2:00: Loser of St. Mary’s/ Air Force v Loser of BGSU/ Kutztown (DI MEN)
3:00: Loser of Cal/Tennessee v Loser of Army/ Cal Poly (DI MEN)
3:30: **Winner of Cal/Tennessee v Winner of Army/ Cal Poly (DI MEN)**
3:30: Winner of Penn State/ Minnesota v Winner of Colorado/ Utah (DI MEN)
3:30: Loser of Penn State/ Minnesota v Loser of Colorado/ Utah (DI MEN)
4:00: Winner of Stanford/ UNI v Winner of Virginia/ Colorado (DI WOMEN)
4:00: Loser of Stanford/ UNI v Loser of Virginia/ Colorado (DI WOMEN)
4:30: Winner of Brown/ West Chester v Winner of UCLA/ UC Davis (DI WOMEN)
4:30: Loser of Brown/ West Chester v Loser of UCLA/ UC Davis (DI WOMEN)

Sunday, April 20
8:30: Winner of Texas A&M/ Cal v Winner of Vassar/ Navy (DI WOMEN)
8:30: Loser of Texas A&M/ Cal v Loser of Vassar/ Navy (DI WOMEN)
8:30: Winner of Penn State/ Florida v Winner of Chico State/ Indiana (DI WOMEN)

8:30: Loser of Penn State/ Florida v Loser of Chico State/ Indiana (DI WOMEN)
10:00: Winner of Norwich/Shippensburg v Winner of Wayne State/ UCSC (DII WOMEN)
10:00: Loser of Norwich/Shippensburg v Loser of Wayne State/ UCSC (DII WOMEN)
10:00 Winner of ECU/ Claremont v Winner of UNM-Duluth/ WWU (DII WOMEN)
10:00: Loser of ECU/ Claremont v Loser of UNM-Duluth/ WWU (DII WOMEN)
11:00: Winner of Coast Guard/ Loyola v Winner of Michigan/ Radford (DII MEN)
11:00: Loser of Coast Guard/ Loyola v Loser of Michigan/ Radford (DII MEN)
11:00: Winner of Middlebury/UNCo v Winner of UVSC/ECU (DII MEN)
11:00: Loser of Middlebury/UNCo v Loser of UVSC/ECU (DII MEN)

**Time has changed to accommodate broadcast schedule**

Webcast Matches
Friday, April 18th
2:00: St. Mary’s College vs. Air Force (DI Men)
4:00: Univ. of Northern Iowa v Stanford (DI Women)

Saturday, April 19th

9:00: Penn State v Univ of Florida (DI Women)
11:30: Norwich v Shippensburg (DII Women)
1:30: Winner of Dartmouth/ BYU v Winner of SDSU/ Arkansas State (DI MEN)
3:30: Winner of Cal/Tennessee and Winner of Army/Cal Poly (DI Men)

Sunday, April 20th

8:30: Winner of TX A&M/ Cal and winner of Vassar/ Navy (DI WOMEN)
11:00: Winner of Coast Guard/ Loyola and winner of Mich/ Radford (DII MEN)

---------------------------------------
Ugh lots of stuff to deal with...I have a paper to write, gotta do laundry, one more practice, blah blah blah....am I excited to go to New Mexico? Hell no! But it's pretty crazy that 48 teams are going to be there..I think the state's gonna run outta ambulances, ice, food, and beer.

Everyone and your mother...

my mom visited me this weekend and it was stressful and nice. I'm just feeling old and beat-up again. Now I'm twenty-two and one more week of practice before the next round of eliminations. It's crazy that there are going to be 48 teams in New Mexico...that's a little nutso to me. I'm kind of sick of it all. It's been hot as hell at practice...hotter then it is in New Mexico. I miss winter.

Women's Rugby Videos

This shouldn't be taken the wrong way but home video-editing has really improved (at least among the D1 squads)

UC Davis:



Penn State:


And a wee little unedited video we took at Pac Coast Playoffs on Day 1...Western Washington in the cute blue number and our best friends from Cali Sac State in the white green and gold. (Ps I'm starting to notice that all of my youtube videos are of sac state playing...)

UCSC WRFC are the Pacific Coast Champions

after defeating Western Washington 36-10. In the first half we had an onslaught of four or five tries (three in the last three minutes). Unfortunately I personally let a try through, there were a number of penalties and I just turned my back and it was exploited for a try (their nine Heather Stephens was a wily old head). We scored a few more in the second half. We mostly just soaked up their pressure on defense and our scrums were also negatively affected because we had to play a man down for almost the entire half (two yellow cards...team penalties for silly stuff we'll work on). The refs of the tournament were fair and reffed a good game...but once again it illustrated how different LAUs stress different things. I mean things that slow down the game are pretty universally penalized but I've never seen a ref blow the whistle so many times for incorrect quick taps or a hooker striking a ball out of the tunnel(when trying to steal it). I didn't do too much in the games but I think I finally got over my cold so that's a plus. Now I just have to get my life in order, turn 22, prepare for my mom's visit (ie clean), study study study, work a little, fund raise for the trip to "the National Guard's" Elite 8 or Collegiate Championship Series in Albuquerque, New Mexico, buy books etc. Oh..and y'kno train five days a week. Ughhh. Maybe eat. Maybe Sleep.

Pictures to be posted later but yea it was cold in Washington. It wasn't significantly colder then Santa Cruz in winter...but it's spring. And there was a very stiff wind that we used to our advantage but made lineout ball pretty difficult. Then again it didn't rain while we were on the pitch...there was snow on the ground the day we arrived though (at our host family's house not on the field).

Ahh it's good to have that feeling again, my team is my family, wherever we go is home, and trust me sometimes it really is a traveling circus =]

**Edit** just a little addition...
Women's Rugby: Shippensburg Shuts Out Norwich, 30-0
Apr 6, 2008

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - After beginning the season by winning its first 16 games, the Norwich University women's rugby team lost its second straight contest on Sunday, as the Cadets were soundly defeated by Shippensburg, 30-0.

The Cadets (16-2) were dominated by Shippensburg from the beginning of the game, and could not get anything going. The 30-0 final score marks the worst loss for NU in a number of years.

"Confusion best describes this weekend," said Norwich head coach Austin Hall. "On Friday night, we played one of the top Division I teams in the country (West Chester), and we played to our potential. Today, we just fell off the map against another excellent side. I must give a lot of credit to West Chester and Shippensburg; they have both built very strong programs and played well this weekend. We have our work cut out for us over the next two weeks."

Norwich (16-2) will have a second opportunity against Shippensburg (17-1) on April 19 in Albuquerque, N.M., in the quarterfinals of the National Championship.

*edit* this caught me off guard at first but then I realized it was just a typo on the journalist's part...Norwich faces Shippensburg in the first round of 8s and not the quarterfinals (because those matches are obviously still up in the air). Final seeds are up:

2008 Seedings

1 Midwest #1 University of Minnesota- Duluth
2 Pacific #1 UC Santa Cruz
3 Northeast #1 Norwich
4 Southern Cal #1 Claremont College
5 South #1 East Carolina
6 Mid-Atlantic #1 Shippensburg
7 West #1 Wayne State
8 Pacific #2 Western Washington University

It'll be weird without Mary Washington

Blogging from the field of Pacific Coast Regional Collegiate DII Women's Rugby Playoffs...

Damn that's a long title...but yes indeedy it's day two of this fine but frigid tournament. Which means day one already happened and what the hell am I doing up at 8:30 in the morning after a match...*sigh* Well yesterday the team was under the assumption that the match began at two...funny story...and we got a call around 11:15from the other coaches asking where the hell we were. Our opponents from Central Washington were already on the field warming up...our match was at twelve. Brilliant. So having 25 panicked girls running around trying to pack their gear after packing down a big ol' breakfast was a wee bit of chaos (PS our host family is amazing). The match got pushed back like half an hour but it was still really tight. The chill and the wind were the only things that was really different then Santa Cruz. The stiff wind made it hard to hear calls and even harder to through a straight lineout ball. We scored three tries in the first half and they dotted one down after a weakside play with their swift winger. Their flanker was having a hard time hitting her mark (she was overthrowing it) but I was damn impressed that she could throw the ball completely straight for fifteen in that wind. But yea final score 17-5 with UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs to face the Western Washington Flames at er 1? this afternoon...I need to check my own schedule. Pics of the match to be posted when I get back home in Cali Cali!

We really do have something to play for today. Western Washington were cool girls, they're a nice team and they hosted a pasta social dance party after Saturday's matches but.......Sac State left it ALL out on the field yesterday. They had the heart, the skills, they just lacked the healthy bodies. Seriously the match started with tit for tat tries between the two sides until sac state pulled ahead but then their season long lack of subs started taking a toll (they only have 16 players). Existing injuries were taking out people left and right but somehow they managed to dredge their broken bodies around the field so they could stay on and help their mates. It was gutwrenching broken ankles, broken collarbone, major concussions, a girl tore the rest of her ACL...tightened her brace and kept playing. In the last 20 minutes sac had about four or five healthy players but the whole team was playing their guts out. Western Washington were pretty vicious in striking at Sac's vulnerabilities, repeatedly targeting their outside center who was moved to wing because she had a broken ankle. Sac fought all 80 minutes of the match and goddamn if they didn't deserve the win...a few more healthy bodies...the insane level of passion and commitment for your teammates--- this is NorCal D2 Women's Rugby. It's hard not to be parochial, I love Norcal rugby. Let's show the pac northwest what we can do. Let's bring this shit back to Cali

T-minus 2 days till Washington

Here's some updated info:

PCRFU 1 = USARFU 2
PCRFU 2 = USARFU 8

Seeding:
1 NCRFU 1 | UC Santa Cruz
2 PNRFU 1 | WWU
3 NCRFU 2 | Sac State
4 PNRFU 2 | CWU (2009 seed will be URFU1)

Dates: April 5/6, 2008 (Sat/Sun)
Host: PNRFU, WWU Rugby Club
Venue: Polo Fields, Ferndale, WA
Point of Contact: Rocky Denhartog and Kerry Griffin, 360-920-8425 (c)
PCRFU MC: TBD

Saturday Matches:
12:00pm Match A: NCRFU 1 v PNRFU 2
2:00pm Match B: PNRFU 1 v NCRFU 2

Sunday Matches:
11:00am Match D: Loser A v Loser B
1:00pm Match C: Winner A v Winner B


Winner C = PCRFU 1
Loser C = PCRFU 2
Return To Top


So our first match is against Central Washington. Uh...I might have to drive (which if anyone knows me is a terrifying prospect (I'm over-cautious) I need to do my laundry, survive two more practices and...I dunno...shit like that.

T-Minus 3 Days Until we fly to Washington

Ahhh and it's going to snow! I'm from SoCal...like Southern California...I can take rain in Santa Cruz but I'm used to sunny warm days with a gentle cooling breeze. I've seen snow once! How do you dress? What do you wear when playing rugby in slush/rain/snow ahhh that's terrifying. If any ruggers abroad have tips for snow now would really be the time to chip in. *sigh* I only own two pairs of pants and they're both jeans. *grumble* oh and it's 6 o'clock practice which is doing wonders for my illness. We were doing drills for 30 minutes in the dark. Blah blah blah need to fundraise...what else.

Ohh I saw Wendy's article and shot a brief msg to their webmaster...mainly just talking about how Iowa State beat us last year and for fucksake to give women's rugby credit in their LAU.

Oh so beyond early morning practices our flight leaves from San Jo at 6am...so we get to wake up at 3-4...grumble mutter grumble. Maybe I'm just tired and wheezy and sick of coughing but it really is exciting...I'm just not the peppy person. It's so weird practicing contact again... what else..
The seeding is firming up for Elite 8s in New Mexico:

1 Midwest #1 University of Minnesota- Duluth
2 Pacific #1
3 Northeast #1
4 Southern Cal #1 Claremont College
5 South #1 East Carolina
6 Mid-Atlantic #1 Shippensburg
7 West #1
8 Pacific #2

Well Pacific will be settled this weekend and if Norwich doesn't get Northeast I'll have my socks shocked off. Dunno what's going on in West. Well off to my 6 hour block of class. 9 days till my birthday. There were a lot of numbers in this post.