Notre Dame College No. 8 Marcaya Bailous /// Photo: Ken Klemencic
Notre Dame College and Stanford kick off Friday action in Marietta, Ga., as the two contest one of two Women’s DI College Spring Championship semifinals. The teams won their respective Spring Round of 16 games convincingly and were then filtered in the Spring final four after quarterfinal losses to DI Elite teams.
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Notre Dame College is the team of interest. The Euclid, Ohio, program has endured turmoil this year, and all eyes focused on the Falcons during the first two rounds of playoffs – the team’s first 15s games of the season. New women’s head coach Luke Markovich was absent that weekend, but it was a planned-for absence that was disclosed before he accepted the position at mid-season. Men’s coach Jason Fox was in charge of the team in State College, Pa.
“Luke knows the culture of the men’s team and brought it to the women, and they responded phenomenally,” Fox said of his former assistant coach. “The women have bought into the system of play, especially, and are doing it very well. They’re very patient with the ball.”
Patient and yet eager. Shortly after kicking off the Spring Round of 16 against Virginia Tech, Notre Dame College fullback Alex Strasser was splitting the defense for a try. The team was energetic and worked a good offload and support game, building a healthy 39-5 first-half lead. No. 8 Marcaya Bailous scored three tries on the day, scrumhalf Danielle Walko Suia two, and hooker Jianna McCullough (who is such a good go-forward force), inside center Lea Walsh, wing Jessica Fox and reserve Cynthia Fuentes also scored. Walko Suia and flyhalf Emilia Ferrara shared kicking duties.
Day two was the “reality check that showed us where we need to be to compete at this level,” Markovich reflected on the 62-8 loss to Penn State in the spring quarterfinals. Those lessons have been incredibly valuable to training sessions these past two weeks, and the head coach has faith in his players’ resilience. The difference might just come down to time – are two games and the subsequent two weeks of practices enough in the final four?
Dani McDonald /// Photo: Jackie Finlan
Stanford has had the field time and competitive games – the team has played UC Davis three times this spring – and looked sharp against Arizona in the Spring Round of 16 and 68-15 win. The squad was hitting hard, piercing the line, moving the ball around well and connecting in the open field. Standouts that first day included hooker Kathryn Treder, No. 8 Dani McDonald, flyhalf Olivia Bernadel Huey, outside center Madda Wilson and fullback Lex Schoenberg.
Stanford put its starters out against Lindenwood in the following day’s spring quarterfinal and fourth the entire match. The Lions won 103-0, and there was a notion of watching teams from different divisions play from each other. It’s hard to know what’s working well and what isn’t in that type of situation.
So when Stanford and Notre Dame College meet on Friday, there will be better parity. The teams are similarly built physically and definitely like their running rugby. It should be a good game between two teams that have never played each other in 15s and very likely never see each other again in the 15s post-season, as the Falcons look to join NIRA officially in the fall.
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