It’s been a good year for Arizona rugby. The state held its first-ever girls’ high school 7s championship; first-year Grand Canyon finished third in the DII college spring championship; Arizona and Arizona State finished no. 1 and no. 2 in the DI Gold Coast; Old Pueblo won the DII Pacific South; and Tempe took home the DI Pacific South championship.
The DI club league altered in 2017. It became a three-team competition once Las Vegas dropped to DII, and so the league added competitive friendlies against San Diego and DII SoCal teams to fill out the schedule. Fortunately, the three teams vying for the DI league championship and berth to nationals were very competitive with each other.
“No one could count on winning anything this year; every game was back and forth,” Tempe coach Mike Pawlowski said. “That’s a good thing, of course; it shows the state of SoCal right now. We’re all competing at every game and everyone expects to win.”
Tempe went 3-3 during the regular season, winning its home games against Santa Monica and Belmont Shore and dropping the road matches. The Ninjas shut out DII Old Pueblo and came within five points of San Diego.
“This season, we’ve worked on decision-making more than anything, and it’s starting to pay off,” Pawlowski said. “You might not be the strongest, fastest or most skilled player, but we’ll take the smartest – the person who knows the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition and knows the strategy of game. That player will prevail.”
Fortunately, coach Pawlowski has some seasoned veterans who aid that educational process.
“If you were to ask me what makes this year’s team different from last year, more than anything it has to do with the experience I have this season in the leadership,” Pawlowski praised players like wife Kelly, who is in her 13th season, as well as Chelsea McIntosh and Whitney Diem. “Having that leadership back is quite literally the difference-maker.”
Their direction became crucial during the Pacific South championship against defending champion Santa Monica. The Dolphins raced to a 15-point lead on tries from Christina DerHagopian, Rebecca Hearn and Whitney Vance.
“The first 30 minutes, we made them look like complete super stars,” Pawlowski said. “They ran at us – hard – and their pace was extremely fast the first 10 minutes.
“Mentally, we’re more prepared than before,” the coach added. “When we were down 15, that could have been a step back for a lot of teams. We just refused to go down.”
Before the half, Tempe outside center Lindsey Mahoney ran a good line with good support and scored. Leah Wills’ conversion made it 15-7 at the break.
Santa Monica extended its lead with a Margaret Lee try and Jaclyn Bercovici conversion, but then the rest of the game saw Tempe mount its comeback.
“More than anything our physicality prevailed in this one. … In the last two games, we’ve gotten so much better in contact situations – taking contact on their terms,” Pawlowski said. “We went ahead with 15 minutes to go and were able to hold them off.”
The back three of Kijana Gaines, Elena Clark and Samantha Santos, along with Wills’ conversion, put Tempe up 26-22 for good.
The reward is (relative) home-field advantage for the DI western regional championships (aka, national quarterfinals). The Ninjas will play Frontier champion Utah Vipers on Saturday, May 20 at Kino Sports Complex in Tucson. The Salt Lake City-based team also hails from a three-team league and beat out 2016 rep Black Ice and the new Glendale DI side for the berth.
“I’ve never put these girls on the field and thought we couldn’t win,” Pawlowski concluded. “This is what our entire lengthy season is about – [two] weeks from now. We’ve grown as a team and delved into this modern game and are playing completely differently.”
National playoffs will be live-streamed via The Rugby Channel.
#Tempe