By Staff
Women’s rugby is on a roll. This past Saturday, Oct. 19, the Kenyon team beat the University of Findlay 40-0 on the rugby pitch behind the Kenyon Athletic Center. The win brought the team’s record up to 4-1 overall and 4-0 in their league.
“In the past we’ve usually played as individual players, and for the first time we’re collectively playing together as a team,” Co-Captain Reina Thomas ’14 said. “I think [we’ve] been trusting our teammates this year.”
In the first half of the game, Kenyon scored four tries with successful conversions, the first of which was run in by Megan Darnell ’14, who went on to score the conversion kick as well. Caroline Steele ’14 scored the second try on a breakaway run, and Taylor Scult ’15 scored the third. After the fourth try scored by Alea Pettrone ’14, the game reached halftime.
In the second half, Steele had to be escorted off the field due to injury. Darnell and Pettrone each scored another try with one missed conversion, bringing the total score up to 40-0.
Despite a last minute kick attempt and several good offensive drives, the forward-reliant Findlay offensive couldn’t take it through Kenyon’s defensive lines.
The win on Saturday follows a season-long string of games with huge margins of victory. In their four victories, the team has outscored its opponents 263-0.
Their only defeat came in the team’s sole non-league game against Denison University, in which they lost 12-30.
“I think we’ve spent a number of years building this team, so there’s a lot more cohesion now,” said Angela Lee ’15, a back.
Despite their dominance in league play, the team knows there is always room for improvement before the playoffs start.
“One of the things we collectively have to work on is rucking,” Thomas said. “Usually what’s saved us from other teams scoring is our tackling, because it’s worn our team out in the past. And so I think that when we’re going into the playoffs and we’re playing against other teams, who are most likely going to be a lot bigger than us because we’re usually one of the smaller teams, that rucking is going to be huge for us.” A ruck is when the ball is loose and players fight for possession of it.
The team’s next game is against Ohio Northern University (ONU) this coming Saturday, Oct. 26 at 9 a.m. As their last official league game marking the end of the Ladies’ regular season, this game is especially important. Beating ONU will cement Kenyon’s spot in the playoffs, where the team will then play Swarthmore College in November. Until then, staying healthy for the rest of the season will be important for the team, according to Thomas.
“Mostly what we’re working around are injuries,” Thomas said. “During this last game we went all out, which led to a lot of people getting concussions. Luckily, throughout the season we’ve been developing rookie players to play multiple positions for a bit, in case the circumstance was brought up. We have someone who knows how to play [every] position.”
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