Canterbury College Player of the Week Caitlane Fricia /// Photos: Amber Tubbs
Kennesaw State is the DII Southern Independent Rugby Conference (SIRC) champion, defeating Alabama 60-10 in the semifinals and Tulane 31-29 on the last play of Sunday’s title match. Canterbury College Player of the Week Caitlane Fricia accounted for the game-winner and was also named MVP of the conference championship.
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Kennesaw State’s playoffs began with a 29-15 quarterfinal win over Georgia, and then the team hosted last weekend’s SIRC final four. On Saturday, the hosts defeated Alabama 60-10.
“We don’t do any sort of special game planning for any game. We focus on the best we can do because the games I’ve seen us lose, they happen because of our mistakes,” said Kennesaw State coach Andrew Hutton, who is joined on staff by head coach Tim Swanson, Daniel Medina and Caitlin Hensley. “The game went pretty smoothly. The structure was good – it fell apart a few times but we’re lucky enough to have good athletes who can pick it up and get reorganized. Fitness was definitely one of the big separators.”
The defense did a good job of withstanding a couple of extended goal-line stances, and that added confidence to the squad. Unfortunately, the victory came with one casualty: President Akilah Guzman. Hutton described the scrumhalf as arguably the best player on the team, and she broke her finger in three places Saturday.
That forced some movement for the Sunday final against Tulane, which defeated Clemson 19-10 in the other Saturday semifinal. Amanda Lam moved from flyhalf to scrumhalf, and outside center Monica Rodriguez moved into the #10 spot.
“Nerves? Oh yeah,” Hutton said of the team vibe when readying for the 2016 spring champion.
But the nerves didn’t show from the kickoff. The Lady Owls scored two tries before Tulane responded, and the squads went into the break tied at 17. Eventual MVP Fricia scored two of those first-half tries.
“She’s a superstar,” Hutton praised. “She’s so athletic and strong, and still fast. This season, she’s improved a lot in her technical game – she’s learning to pass a lot better – but she’s a natural monster. Over the last two years, she’s received Man of the Match four or five times.”
Tulane got its first-half points from flyhalf Gwen Liefer, who scored two tries, and hooker Hayley Alexander. Tris Peronard, who’s normally a lock but played fullback, added the first of her two conversions. Tulane took its first lead of the game when flanker Lily Wissinger returned an intercept into the try zone, 22-17, but as the third quarter closed, Lam tapped through a penalty for the tying try. Hooker Rose Walker converted, giving Kennesaw State the 24-22 lead.
“We were really evenly matched up around the field. In terms of entertainment factor, this was the best game I’ve seen live,” Hutton said. “They were a little better rucking, especially on defense. They were able to counter-ruck too many balls too easily. In tackling, we might have had a little edge because we were driving them back, and our [ballcarriers] were able to get past that first tackle, which helped suck in the defense. We were a little bit more fit, but other than that, it was really even.”
Lam accepts the SIRC trophy from conference commissioner Min Cho.
Kennesaw State’s tackle completion also reinforced a change in the coaches’ training methodology.
“We don’t do as much tackling at practice as we should, but that’s because every Saturday, they turn up and tackle,” Hutton explained. “We go over some form stuff, some attitude and mindset, but we don’t tackle live against each other. That’s always the big question in our mind; the coaching staff is constantly figuring out what we should cover and work on. Tackling isn’t’ a huge priority because they do it so well.”
Kennesaw State snuffed out a couple of Tulane attempts at the line, driving ballcarriers into touch. But the Green Wave surged ahead with 10 minutes remaining, as prop Alex Clarke scored and Peronard converted, 29-24.
With two minutes on the clock, Tulane was attacking inside Kennesaw State’s 22 meter. The hosts received a lineout, went to work, and then sent the ball to Fricia.
“She turned on the jets and ran for her life,” Hutton said of the 90-meter try.
Walker converted the centered score, and Kennesaw State won its first-ever conference title 31-29 over the reigning spring champion.
“It was the hardest game I’ve ever seen them play,” Hutton said. “We’ve been fortunate to dominate [our league], but Tulane was by far the hardest we’ve ever had.”
Hutton acknowledged Lam for getting the players riled up on Sunday, and credited Alicia Morrison and Fricia for continuously coming through with go-forward ball and morale-boosting plays. Walker and Chelsea Jones also had great weekends and continue to provide a foundation on which teammates can excel.
“Credit goes to all the girls who weren’t here and couldn’t come out,” Hutton said. “We’ve had a lot of numbers that push everyone at practice to be better. It was an unbelievable turnout, and it was a major effort that paid off.”
Both Kennesaw State and Tulane head to Spartanburg, S.C., where two of the four spring Round of 16 pools will compete on April 8-9. The teams will compete in different pools, however. Four semifinalists will be produced that weekend, and they’ll advance to the DII spring championship on April 22-23 at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. The spring champion will then play DII fall champion Davenport University for the DII national championship on May 6 at Life University.
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