Sunday, May 3, 2009

Great End To A Not So Great Season

With tries by Darla Brandt (3), Sarah Permann and Tracy Elsen and one conversion by Lindsey Lefkow the Coyotes ended the season with a convincing 27-7 win against the Augustana Women. The highlight of the day was certainly the remarkable try by Permann who took a pass off a ruck in the USD half, threw an outrageous dummy pass that confused the defenders, shot through the gap and then pinned her ears back to go fifty yards to the goal line. The crowd went wild.

It was a great end to a tough season for the USD Women's Rugby Club who struggled through a series of cancelled games that certainly negatively impacted the team. The good news is that the core of the team will be returning and with the addition of a new group of rookies the team will be in very good shape in the fall.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Coyotes Still In National Rankings

Despite going 1-1 at the Great Plains Championships the USD Women only drop one spot in the ErugbyNews.com National DII rankings. The team was 22nd going into the weekend and only drop one place to 23rd after a solid win over Nebraska and tough loss to 12th ranked Wayne State. With most of the country having wrapped up their fall season it looks like the Coyotes will start the spring season in the Top 25.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Coyotes go 1-1 at Great Plains Championship


Great Plains Championships

The USD Women's Rugby Team played two games on Saturday with mixed results. In the opening game the Coyotes comfortably beat U of Nebraska 47-15 with tries from Mallory Zweber, Kayla Fiscus, Chelsie Kennedy, Darla Brandt (2), Tracy Elsen (2) and a try, penalty and two conversions by Donielle Gustafson.

The second game of the day was against Wayne State and the team was hoping for the same performance that almost created an upset result last week. Unfortunately the SDSU Women failed to field a team for the event and this resulted in Wayne getting a bye into the final. A tired USD team gave Wayne a good game in the early exchanges and were in the game through the first quarter. The effects of the early game began to show on the Coyote forwards and this resulted in Wayne winning more and more of the possession. USD had some opportunities and this lead to a fine try by Miranda Bakley who had another outstanding day on offense and defense. Final Score USD 5 Wayne State 43.

Overall this was a good day for the Coyotes. The game against Nebraska included a couple of very good team tries where several players were able to pass out of the tackle to support players coming onto the ball at pace. Against Wayne the forwards were able to walk a 5 meter scrum over the Wayne goal line and were unfortunate to knock the ball on in goal. This was the first time in a long time that the Coyotes have played two games in a day and it certainly hammered home the need for all the players to use the off season to work on fitness.

USD Ranked in Women's DII Top 25

From ErugbyNews.com

DII Women Top 25

October 30, 2008 – In the ERugbyNews Women DII college rankings, we can’t see any reason to drop down Shippensburg, which continues to play very solid rugby football. Delaware, Norwich and Slippery Rock all look strong. Wyoming moves up.

Wayne State moves down after escaping 10-7 against South Dakota. The USD players are just hitting their stride after some tough games to start the season. Under coach Bryn Chivers they are getting better, and in fact twice saw the winning try held up in goal.

Said the coach who runs the USA U20 team and has won national all-star championship, “I forgot how wonderfully therapeutic it can be to coach players to just go out and play for the fun of it.”

USD breaks the rankings this week.

So, too, does East Carolina, who really shouldn’t have been dropped. They beat North Carolina in tournament play this past week, and make the top 10.

We couldn’t bring ourselves to exclude a number of teams so we’ve expanded to a Top 25. Western Washington, Georgetown, George Washington (there’s a pattern here) and College of Charleston all come in.


Women DII

1 Shippensburg 5-0 (1)
48-0 over College of New Jersey

2 Delaware 5-1 (2)
53-0 over Bloomsburg

3 Norwich 6-1 (3)
67-5 over So. Conn.

4 Slippery Rock 5-0 (4)
62-0 over Bowling Green, 17-5 over Ball State

5 Marist 6-0 (5)
37-10 over New Paltz

6 Wyoming 3-0 (7)
46-5 over Northern Colorado

7 Bowdoin 6-0 (6)
25-0 over Williams

8 Hamilton 6-0 (9)
36-14 over Buffalo State

9 East Carolina 3-0 (Unr)
Won NC tournament, Beat UNC

10 University of Vermont 5-1 (10)
28-0 over Boston College

11 Stonehill 6-0 (11)
39-10 over New Hampshire

12 Wayne St. Neb. 3-0 (8)
10-7 over South Dakota

13 Texas Tech 2-0 (2-2) (10)
Idle

14 Longwood 5-0 (15)
Idle

15 Mary Washington 3-2-1 (16)
Alumni Game

16 LaSalle 4-1 (17)
17-7 over Bryn Mawr

17 UM-Duluth (Unr)
27-5 over UW-Whitewater (18), 49-0 over Marquette

18 Illinois State
Over St. Cloud State, 32-17 over Winona State (19)

19 Michigan 8-0 (20)
25-5 over IUP, 43-17 over Michigan State

20 Canisius 5-0 (13)
5-0 over Siena

21 Western Washington 2-0 (Unr)
37-5 over Western Oregon

22 South Dakota 1-2 (1-3) (Unr)
Lost 10-7 to Wayne State (8)

23 Georgetown 5-0 (Unr)
36-7 over UMBC

24 George Washiington 5-0

25 College of Charleston 1-0 (Unr)
Idle

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Big Day For Coyote Rugby

University of South Dakota V Wayne State


The USD women hosted the nationally ranked Wayne State Women and almost pulled off the upset of the season. Wayne are currently #6 in the Women's D2 national rankings and this game was clearly going to be a test for the team as they lost the same fixture last year by fifty points. The first half showed that this was a much different USD team than the one that lost it's season opener to SDSU. Playing most of the game in the Wayne end the Coyotes showed they had the desire and personnel to go toe to toe with one of the country's top teams. On two occasions the players were able to get over the Wayne goal line only to have the ref say he was unsighted and missed the grounding of the ball. Somewhat against the run of play the Wayne women scored first when a ball squirted out of the scrum and a Wayne player was able to pick up the loose ball and crash over for the five points. The USD women didn't drop their heads and continued to attack the Wayne goal line. From a scrum deep in the Wayne half the ball was sent out to the backs and flyhalf Darla Brandt went in for the score. Doni Gustafson kicked the conversion and the Coyotes found themselves leading 7-5 at halftime.

The second half was similar to the first with both teams having to work hard to create scoring chances and with the defenses dominating. With seven minutes left in the game the Wayne Women worked the ball wide and were able to score in the corner to take a 7-10 lead. The last six minutes saw the Coyotes throw everything into attack and they had several opportunities to score. In the final minute Doni Gustafson attacked the weakside and fed the ball to Alex Brummer who drove towards the goal line only to be knocked into touch at the corner flag. The final whistle went with Wayne clinging to to their 7-10 lead and the Coyotes realizing that they can play with a Nationally ranked team. While everyone played incredibly well it was the play of Miranda Bakley that stood out. With several important tackles and some charging runs the lock was a force on offense and defense.

It's possible that both teams will face each other again at the Great Plains Tournament next Saturday.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Coyotes v Nebraska

The USD women took on U of Nebraska and came away 17-7 winners. Tries from Tracey Elsen, Darla Brandt and rookie flanker Alex Brummer with a conversion by Darla Brandt. Here is video of Alex's try.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

New Team Kit from the National Guard



We received a new set of team kit from the National Guard and used this as an opportunity to take our fall season team picture. There were a lot of players missing due to class and work and hopefully we can get everyone together before the end of the season and take a picture of the full squad,

We had a productive practice tonight and everyone was focused despite being eaten alive by the bugs. Because everyone worked hard the reward was a game of chicken in the henhouse. The final came down to Tracey and Doni versus Mallory and Miranda with the backs winning out.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Peace, Love, Rugby



Found this website with this great rugby logo and a nice range of t-shirts and caps.

http://shop.cafepress.com/design/7730906