The USD Women's Rugby Team started their Fall season today. With a hand full of vets unavailable and a lot of rookies not able to play it was impressive that the Coyotes were able to put out two full squads for their inter squad scrimmage. The day started with a scrum session for the rookie forwards while the new backs worked on re-alignment skills.
Squads were mixed with vets taking key positions on both teams and rookies filling in the blanks. With competitive scrums and better than average lineouts the set pieces looked very good. The backs were able to move the ball out to the wings and there were several good breaks by both sides. The game was played end to end but the white squad benefited from some breakaways and ran out 17-0 winners.
The Coyotes play in the great Plains League and next Saturday they open the league season at home against the Creighton Women Bluejays.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Big Turnout For First Practice
What a great turnout for the first practice of the season. The ice rink looked so small as we filled it with 40+ players. The new players were clearly a fun group of talented women and it looks like we have even more players signed up who were unable to come out on Tuesday.
We may have to add a rookie scrimmage to the schedule so that all the new players can get into a game situation prior to the start of the season. More info to follow.
We may have to add a rookie scrimmage to the schedule so that all the new players can get into a game situation prior to the start of the season. More info to follow.
Coach Bryn's Summer
So the summer was packed with rugby for Head Coach Bryn Chivers. Bryn is also the Head Coach of the USA U20 Women's National Team and this summer they participated in two big events.
In June the team traveled to Pittsburgh and participated in the USA Rugby U23 National All Star Championships and came away with wins against the SoCal U23's and West U23's.
This was a a warm up for their July tour to England where the participated in the Women;s U20 Nations Cup, a tournament for National teams. They played exceptionally well and beat Wales and Canada to make it to the final where they lost to England, the defending champions. You can read about the tour on the U19 Girls Rugby blog
http://u19womensrugby.blogspot.com/
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.
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
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.
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.
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