Stanford’s Madda Wilson /// Photo: Hector Garcia Molina (see more)
This weekend is an important one for women’s college rugby, and Stanford University will be the busiest location. The Cardinal will not only host one pool of the Women’s DI College Spring Round of 16, but it will also open Steuber Stadium to the Women’s DII College Spring Championship. After Sunday’s matches, three of the eight teams across both competitions will continue their respective post-seasons.
RELATED: DI College Playoff Bracket • DI College Spring Ranking • 2017 Women’s Event Calendar
STANFORD v ARIZONA
Stanford has, by far, the most playoff experience in this pool, but these previous two seasons have been ones of transition. Last year saw the team reorganize under new coach Josh Sutcliffe and try its hand in the DI Elite, but the timing wasn’t right. This year, Sutcliffe has added Richard Ashfield to the coaching lineup, Hannah Stolba has returned for the spring, and the program has focused its rebuilding efforts in the Pacific Mountain Rugby Conference (PMRC).
Stanford got a nice mix of competition during the spring that allowed for the introduction of new players and position switches, as well as next-level opposition that pushed the team’s development. The young forward pack now has a lot of valuable experience and is anchored in savvy No. 8 Dani McDonald. Watch for Olivia Bernadel-Huey to launch the backline attack and veteran center Madda Wilson, who is so good with ball in hand.
The first test is Arizona, which replaced UC San Diego as Gold Coast champion this year. Similarly, Arizona State (competing in Davis, Calif., this weekend) replaced 2016 runner-up UCLA. The teams proved to be each other’s best competition toward the end of the season, and the Arizona squads played three games against each other in March (2-1 to the Wildcats).
The playing schedule necessitated some rest before ramping up for the DI Spring Round of 16, but Arizona played a controlled scrimmage against senior club O.P. Lightning, which is also playoffs-bound, to tune up.
“No major personnel switches,” Arizona coach compared Saturday’s lineup to the one that saw the Wildcats to the conference title. “We’ve developed some versatility as a result of shifting people around due to injuries throughout the season, so it has just been a matter of deciding how to best arrange the team to play the game we want to play.”
Co-captain Jessica Carpenter is influential in the pace of the game, and the flyhalf typically features heavily on the scoreboard, both in tries and conversions. Co-captain and No. 8 Gabby Grinslade is in charge of the forwards’ game, and the duo are joined by fellow seniors Karlee Hamilton, Kaitlynn Verheyden, Sarah Bosch, Madisen Miller, Brawley McCaslin, Kim Murphy and Tatum Hale as tone-setters for the team.
LINDENWOOD v WASHINGTON STATE
Although this pool is a deeply talented one, it’s tough to deny Lindenwood the status of favorite in this group. The independent Lions have traveled from Ireland to California this year; defeated teams like BYU, UC Davis and Glendale; and brings talent from every corner of the country to St. Charles, Mo.
Due to Indiana’s withdrawal and a first-round loss to Life University, Lindenwood only played one post-season match during last year’s DI Elite competition. With a potentially longer playoff scenario this year, the rugby public will get a better look at the team’s depth of talent. AnnaKaren Pedraza, Richelle Stephens, McKenzie Hawkins, Natalie Kosko and many more are familiar forces, but watch for players like freshman Teresa Bueso-Gomez from Spain. She’s an excellent playmaker in the centers and does well to set up her outside speedsters. We’re big fans of Lia Fetineiai-Ili, too, who was named forwards MVP against Glendale.
Despite the many options for the first side, the team has managed to play a unified game.
“I would say things started to click for us after Ireland and going into our Glendale match,” Lindenwood coach Billy Nicholas reflected on team chemistry. “We were playing very team-oriented and had some amazing support.”
That’s a mighty mountain for Washington State to face in the first round, and the inequity is something we’ll revisit in a subsequent article. For now, the Cougars are looking to build off lessons learned during the PMRC playoffs, when Chico State ran back a game-ending try to finish third in the conference.
Watch for Jill Fejes, Josie Markoff, McKenna Rybka and Gaby Drllevich, who are among the physical and yet agile forwards. Monae Hendrickson leads the backs, and the 10/12 combo of Alex Denzinger and Erica Chandler featured well in the Chico State match.
“We have prepared for this game against Lindenwood like we have for every game this year, and like every game we played this season, we will be going out to win,” Washington State coach Christy O’Shea addressed the challenge ahead. “This team has spent the last eight months aiming to go as far as possible in the Division 1 Championship, and even though we were pitted against a team competing for a totally different competition [D1 Elite Championship], we will still go out against Lindenwood and play rugby the way we have done so successfully all year and even have a few tricks up our sleeves!”
O’Shea references the re-integration of DI Elite teams into the DI playoffs, and it’s an important subject that we’ll address before the onset of this weekend’s games.
Saturday’s winners will automatically advance to Marietta, Ga., site of the final-four weekend for the DI Elite national championship and DI spring championship. The winners of Sunday’s quarterfinals will compete toward the former, while the losers will compete toward the latter.