Columbia Women's Season Re-Cap

CUWRFC built on momentum gained in the fall and had a great spring season!  We started off with an exciting win over Rutgers but were defeated in our following two games against Vassar and the New York Rugby Club's U19 team.  Coaches and players worked together to identify the specific problems we were having and we worked hard in our final weeks of practice to not only fine-tune our skills, but also to come together as a cohesive team--forwards and backs--and find our collective passion for the game.

Our hard work paid off during Rhode Island's annual Beast of the East Rugby Tournament at which CUWRFC's performance was definitely the highlight of our season.  After all of our hard work and development, we played with heart and passion, and true to our motto, we played 15 as 1. 

We began the tournament with a 45-0 victory over Providence College.  This win carried CUWRFC to another victory over Mt. Holyoke 59-0.  The two wins put us in good position to play for the championship the following day.  Unfortunately we lost our first game of the playoffs, 17-17 against Roger Williams, due to a tie breaker rule which gave the victory to the team who scored first.  We had played our best rugby and were proud of our performance so we came home with our heads held high.  We really came together that weekend and everyone could see the results of the tireless effort that each and every player was putting in.

It has been an interesting couple years for CUWRFC since joining the Ivy League as the level of competition has increased and we have had to increase our level of play as a result. An important goal agreed upon by the team is that of being competitive on the D-1 level, and our performance this spring, especially at Beast of the East, really demonstrated what we are capable of.

Looking back on our season, CUWRFC would like to give a special thank you to Rachel Hughes, member of New York Rugby Club, who took over for Heather Martin as our Forwards Coach this season.  Her energy, unwavering support, and incredible knowledge of the game helped us to develop a great skill set, which we are looking forward to building on in our Fall Season!

- Written by Christina Maria Hernandez