Minnesota during its 78-7 win over Midwest newcomer Northern Illinois. /// Photo courtesy Univ. Minnesota Women’s Rugby •
This weekend DI Midwest leader University of Minnesota (5-0) will play its final league match against the University of Northern Iowa and aim to keep its undefeated record intact. Since the conference expanded to seven teams this year, there will be no league championship and post-season representatives will be determined on standings points.
The Gophers went undefeated through the league championship last year and is posting similar results this year. But the team is better this year, partially because it graduated only two seniors from the 2015 team, but even more importantly, players are embracing their coaches’ vision for the game.
“This is the third year with our coaches and third year we’ve been working in the same system. We’re finally getting comfortable with it,” Minnesota president Anna Jacobsen said of the team’s time with coaches Rebecca Radtke, Lynelle Kugler, Ali Gillberg and Katie Sjeklocha, all Twin Cities alumnae. “We have a lot of the same players and had a good recruiting year, too. So it’s definitely been exciting for us to have more players and more depth on the team.”
The depth-building began during the All-Minnesota Tournament, which the Gophers host. The team worked its rookies during three wins before losing to eventual champion Winona. Jacobsen saw the light bulbs switch on for many players during that fixture and knew that the high expectations set during pre-season were attainable.
On the pitch, captain and scrumhalf Averie Mitchell-Brown directs traffic and implements the coaches’ game plan. She and a core group of veterans will be influential if and when the team makes the trip to Cincinnati for the DI fall quarterfinals on Nov. 19-20.
“Last year, when we lost our first game of the season in the quarterfinals, that was definitely a wake-up call,” Jacobsen recalled the 31-18 loss to Air Force. “Everyone played hard, and it was motivating to see how close we were and where it could go from there. We ended last fall season on a high note, knowing that big things were to come.”
The post-season picture is shady at best. Brackets were circulated in late summer, but the only information that has been officially confirmed are the dates and locations of the fall playoffs. The Midwest has an automatic berth to the West portion of the quarterfinals, and if the brackets remain the same, then it will play the winner of Big Ten #2 vs. at-large. There are two at-large seeds available in the previously published brackets, and the Midwest took one to the quarterfinals last year.
The Nov. 19-20 games will produce finalists, and one match, the championship, will be contested at Furman University in South Carolina the weekend of Dec. 3-4.
“We’re all really excited,” Jacobsen concluded. “We’ve put in so much work this year, for the team and each other, and we’re all working toward the same goal. I’m excited to see where it will take us.”
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