Princeton Tigers Great San Diego Tour
We head back from a week of beautiful weather and very good rugby with our first XV winning its only game and our second XV losing a 15-13 decision to a mostly college team with a Princeton Rugby ’03 alumna (& US player) and three post-college players in the lineup. They made a difference, but our kids (we had 15 tour rookies!) played great and we weren’t disappointed (we were, however, disappointed in Cal State-Fullerton, who at the last minute cancelled our first planned fixture on Monday … but we practiced hard to make up for it).
We watched a men’s game between OMBAC and Belmont Shore, two of the top senior men’s teams in the country, and had a little run-out and coaching session with OMBAC, whose players were very gracious with their time.
In between there was a tour of the USS Midway, a harbor cruise, for some a visit to the San Diego Zoo, and a visit to the US Olympic Training Center where we met the US women’s rugby team. We got to see several alumni. In between there were lots of practices. And for the seniors, continued work on their theses. Hopefully no one was bored.
Saturday 3-16-13
After our evening arrival in San Diego, and settling into our digs in the Gaslamp Quarter, we had an AM training on the beach in Coronado. Following lunch in Coronado we headed to a match between OMBAC and Belmont Shore, two of the best senior men’s teams in the country. The game hinged on a last-second penalty kick by OMBAC which bounced off both posts and the cross bar before falling short and giving Belmont a 2-point win. We were still not firmly locked into training venues for the week (it’s always tough to get training pitches in big cities) and asked OMBAC coach Gene Mountjoy what he could do.
Sunday 3-17-13
Sunday morning we practiced at tiny park with very little space to train (reminder to self: city parks are full of soccer players on weekends).
Kristy Giandomenico checked out Google Earth and found a place with lots of green space. It turned out to be a Naval Training Center at a place called Liberty Park. It did have lots of flat green space and was just what we needed. (And no one was concerned by our presence.)
On Sunday night we walked from the hostel to the harbor to enjoy the sunset.
Monday 3-18-13
Today we had our first scheduled match, vs. Cal-State Fullerton. We practiced in the morning (same place) and headed to Fullerton in the PM. We found out, however, that Fullerton couldn’t play us (they gave us a reason – the university suddenly took away their field, but we have no idea how valid it was). Believing several alumni would be there, we continued our plans, headed there, had no game, but stopped just south of Laguna Beach at a place called Aliso Beach for a quick dip, dined at a local restaurant (by ourselves) and headed home … 4 hour drive for no game and a nondescript meal. Disappointing.
Tuesday 3-19-13
On Tuesday morning we were joined by a couple of alumni for a tour of the huge mid-century carrier Midway. Thanks to Jan Twardowski ’67 for joining us and enabling everyone that wanted to, to fly in the flight simulator. Following that, a few of us had lunch at El Pulpo, a nice seafood place.
Coach Mountjoy texted me during the day and asked if we were interested in an 8 PM training session at the OMBAC field and I said “sure!” When we arrived, OMBAC was just finishing their own practice and I asked if they would stick around for a few minutes so we could run our defensive patterns against the men (with the proviso that a) they would only run at about 80% speed, and b) it would be non-contact).
The men agreed and we took about 15 minutes to work on our defensive patterns against some of the best men players in the country. “Wow, they’re fast,” one of our players said to me as we were waiting for play to continue. “Yup,” I responded. And they weren’t close to full speed. As long as the men take it in the right spirit, practicing against them is a great way to force women to react to more pressure than they normally face. When she was winning many national basketball championships with the Tennessee women, Pat Summitt had her team regularly practice vs. men.
Following this, several of the men stuck around to work with our front-row forwards and our kickers… It was a very helpful session, and we followed it with 45-minutes of practice for our entire squad. I also got to meet up with Jason Wood, one of the OMBAC coaches, whom I had coached when he played for Philadelphia-Whitemarsh in the 90s.
We went to the beach at La Jolla where we lit a bonfire (in an appropriately designated area!), roasted marshmallows and enjoyed a performance by our rookies (all 15 of them).
Wednesday 3-20-13
In the morning most of us went for a Hornblower San Diego Harbor Cruise with a couple of alumni; some went to the San Diego Zoo. A large group had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant.
Later in the afternoon we headed to a first XV match with the San Diego Surfers at Robb Field. We got there about an hour and a half early for a 6 PM match. The first thing we found was yet another reason to be happy for our fields at Princeton: there were small gopher holes all over the Surfers’ field. We found a pile of dirt in the area and filled in dozens of them (all that we could find). Glad we did it: there were no ankle issues.
The San Diego Surfers are one of the top 4 senior women’s teams in the US. We had hoped to play their first team, as we had considered our match in London last year vs. Thurrock, one of the top England senior women’s teams, as a great vehicle for our team’s advancement. The Surfers, however, put out a side of mostly 2nd team players, feeling this would be sufficient to test our talents and presumably to win comfortably. They too are very good players.
It was in fact a good competitive match, but the Surfers were never really in it and we rolled to a 37-5 win (and the match was blown up 9 minutes early due to darkness – the field was partially lit from a neighboring softball field, but when the full impact of darkness was felt the referee wisely ended the contest). It was the only match for our first team – we had wanted two – but it was a good one and we were heartened by the results.
Princeton 1st XV vs. San Diego Surfers
1. Olivia Garard ‘13
2. Kelsey Henderson ‘15
3. Elizabeth Sajewski ‘13
4. Lelabari Giwa-Ojuri ‘14
5. Sarah Rounsifer ‘13
6. Mireille Pardon ’14 (T)
7. Madeleine Karn ’13, R
8. Dot Mittow ’14 (T, C)
9. Stephanie Kim ’15 (T)
10. Lauren Rhode ‘12 (PK, C)
11. Devan Kreisberg ’13 (T)
12. Ariel Jespersen ‘13
13. Nida Leeuwenburgh ‘13
14. Kristy Giandomenico ’14 (T)
15. Maddy Lea ’16, R (T)
Replacements:
Andrea Malleo ’16, R for Madeleine
Cat Lambert ’15 for Lauren
Abby Badura ’15, R for Nida
Ozi Obi-Onuoha ’16, R for Elizabeth
Yung Huang ’15 for Kelsey
Shirley Yang ’16, R for Devan, Maddy to W, Shirley to FB
Emilie Burke ’15 for Olivia
Victoria Richardson ’13, R for Sarah
Thursday 3-21-13
We had an AM practice at the Naval Training Center, and then had individual discussions with each player that had played in yesterday’s game.
Midafternoon we headed out of town again. This was a match for our B side against UC-Irvine. As our recent alumnae know, a “B side game” normally means a mixed A/B side, as we’ve not had enough players to field two full teams for a long time. On this tour, however, we had 36 players: 32 healthy and 4 not yet ready to play; we started 15 completely distinct players from Wednesday’s match, and brought two more in at halftime. (In the interests of full disclosure, Assistant Coach Hana Passen ’12, came in as an injury replacement in the middle of the second half – we didn’t want to use any of the 15 starters from yesterday’s game if we didn’t have to).
It turns out that UC-Irvine’s coach is Jess Krause, Princeton Rugby ’03 (and Princeton ’04), who not only played rugby at Princeton, but also for the US. She told us she was going to play for her team against us to help keep them organized, and we said “sure, no problem, it can only help us grow as a team.” Had she not played, we would certainly have won the game, as her booming kicks kept moving us back and she also scored a try and a PK for them.
14 of the 18 that got in the game for us were either freshmen or sophomores, and we were thrilled with not only the effort but the results as well. An Ozi Obi-Onuoha run came a foot short of winning the game in the last minute, and the final score was 13-15. But it was great!
From Jess’s description it sounded as though nearly their entire team was brand new, but later we were to find out that three of the forwards were also post-college players that had played at and graduated from Irvine. And those players, whom we met later at a social function, were under the impression they had defeated Princeton’s first XV. Of course, as Olivia told the team at the end of the game, “there was no A or B team on this tour. We were both Princeton.”
It’s all good.
Princeton 2nd XV vs. UC-Irvine
1. Emilie Burke ‘15
2. Leea Driskell ’16, R
3. Ozi Obi-Onuoha ’16 R
4. Victoria Richardson ’13, R
5. Akua Banful ’16, R
6. Maya Gainer ‘13
7. Nicole Pennycooke ‘15
8. Andrea Malleo ’16, R
9. Tzu-Yung Huang ‘15 (T)
10. Cat Lambert ’15 (PK, T)
11. Wendy Li ‘15
12. Leora Haber ’16, R
13. Abby Badura ’15, R
14. Verena Jung ’14, R
15. Shirley Yang ’16, R
Replacements
Kasturi Shah ’16, R, for Wendy
Samantha Wu ’16, R for Verena
Hana Passen ’12 for Emilie
Friday 3-22-13
We visited the Olympic Training Center at Chula Vista, where we watched the USA Women’s rugby sevens team, about to leave for a tournament in China, train. Since rugby sevens was selected as an Olympic sport in 2009, the US national rugby teams have been allowed to use this center and there are several players in residence there. (For the first time since 1924, rugby will be played in the Olympics as a medal sport in Rio in 2016.) Following this practice we had individual discussions with those that played yesterday. We were invited to, and attended, a jersey presentation ceremony conducted by US coach Ric Suggitt with jersey presenter Lex Gillette, a Paralympic World Record holder (long jump). Lex gave an inspirational account of his career then presented each US player with a jersey. We trained again in the afternoon, and then headed back to pack and get ready for a 6 AM departure.
We had our last tour practice in the afternoon and then everyone was set free until our 6 AM departure for the San Diego airport and our flight home (with a 4-hour layover in St. Louis).
The four oldest members of the tour party again had dinner at El Pulpo restaurant on Market Street, which reminded me of all the great Mediterranean seafood I love so much, but this time with a Mexican touch … I had my first Octopus Taco!
Thanks to all the alums that showed up at some point during the tour; they included but I think not limited to Stu Rickerson ’71 (and his wife Nancy ’87 and daughter Lucy), Jan Twardowski ’67, Rob Thorlakson ’74 and Peter Hamilton ’79. We were also looking forward to seeing Paul Haaga ’70, and former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan ’52, who were to attend our game in Fullerton until Fullerton’s last minute cancellation of the game.
Also thanks to Dot Mittow’s parents who drove down from Davis to see their daughter play for Princeton for the first time.
It was a successful tour and a great time was had by all.