Photo courtesy UC Irvine Women’s Rugby
The DII Gold Coast conference was arguably the most interesting collegiate conference in the month of February. Pre-season predictions were quickly scrapped, and by month’s end, UC Irvine emerged as the standings leader. At the beginning of the season, UCI coach Andrew Mase was cautiously optimistic about the team’s potential this spring, but now, as he talked about the Canterbury Collegiate Player of the Month, he projected more confidence.
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“The team has progressed really well throughout the year,” Mase said. “The senior players have taken a lot of ownership in the quality of their performance and also tried to bring on as many young players into that culture as well.”
That veteran leadership was on display in particular against Claremont, UC Irvine’s toughest match all season. Mase described the Foxes as a well drilled team, skilled at retaining possession and deploying a dangerous backline. Claremont scored first, but UC Irvine rallied to win 20-8.
“I think our success was largely due to not getting down on ourselves early on,” Mase said. “It was a mixture of 80 minutes of focus and not getting unplugged – using every minute to get the ball away from them. We got a couple of good bounces … but really it was not letting ourselves have a five- or 10-minute period where we lost focus and conceded focus.”
And it was players like junior fullback Elona Williams, the Canterbury Collegiate Player of February, who kept the team on track. She got one of those “lucky bounces” against Claremont – a kick-pass that she corralled and turned into a hard-fought try – but her influence goes way beyond a single play. Off of the field, she’s the vice president and handles most of the operations – from match secretary duties to communication with the club sports department.
“She is definitely invaluable in that regard,” Mase said. “On the field, she’s a pretty experienced rugby player. … She has a good mix of rugby skill – great passing, good tackling, good head for the game – with a fair bit of natural athleticism. As a player, she’s always elusive when to trying to tackle her. We moved her to fullback this year because she isn’t necessarily the hard-nosed kind of center, but with a bit of space – with either ball in hand or setting other players up – she’s tremendous.”
Mase also praised Williams’ 80-minute reliability and that she “has a toughness you can depend on.” It’s little surprise then that the junior has aspirations to play at the higher levels. She was introduced to the game via ICEF in high school and had the opportunity to travel. She’s eyeing the senior SoCal Griffins all-star team and has attended national tracking camps. She injects that desire for improvement into the squad, and it resonates.
UC Irvine has one more league game against Occidental before the Gold Coast regular season ends, and while the post-season schedule is still unclear, the team has reason to think about the regional championships. Since Williams has been with the team, UC Irvine has been competitive, but spring 2017 has even more potential.
“This year we’ve got a little more of a s senior make-up to the team, and we’re using that to our advantage,” Mase said. “We’ve gotten better at finishing out games and not leaving points on the table – securing the result that we really want.
“They have a good perspective that the playoffs are not a do-or-die, win-at-all-costs experience, but an opportunity to test themselves against other teams as they go deeper into the playoffs,” Mase added.
A balanced attitude, one that Canterbury Collegiate Player of February Elona Williams embodies.
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