Photos courtesy UNE Athletics
In its third season, the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) held its first official Tier 2 championship, and unsurprisingly, the University of New England (UNE) and Bowdoin College contested the title bout. The Maine teams not only dueled in last year’s unofficial championship but are also the healthiest of the Tier 2 programs.
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“Ever since November 12, 2016, when we came from behind to win the final, I’ve thought: They will remember this and it will fuel them,” Bowdoin College coach MaryBeth Mathews recalled last year’s 32-22 win. “I knew they’d be back.”
UNE learned an important lesson about late-game defense and it became coach Ashley Potvin’s focus heading into fall 2017. Fortunately, there were many returners who could build off of 2016, and the squad filed in behind senior captains Lara Murnik (center), Heather Baron (prop) and Kassidy Towne (No. 8).
“Historically, the club program was used to running teams over in conference and then having to play defense in the post-season and not having a handle on it,” Potvin said of the second-year varsity team. “We knew we had the tools in the toolbox to get it done offensively, so I focused on getting the girls ready defensively, and they took it to heart.”
The teams reunited on Oct. 7, 2017, and Bowdoin arrived with a young, inexperienced squad that rallied around the leadership of backs captain Kendall Schutzer and forwards captain Vianney Gomezgil Yaspik.
“She’s one of those kids, since day one as a freshman, lived and breathed the sport, and does things on and off the field, in and out of season. You don’t ever want your team to not have one of these players,” Mathews said of outside center-turned-scrumhalf Schutzer. “Vianney is a tough, hard-nosed player, who is very quiet and docile off the pitch but is a very physical leader on the pitch.”
New England won that October fixture by 46 points and got the strong defensive effort for which Potvin was looking. Blindside flanker Amanda Sancomb set the standard.
“She is consistently in the double digits for tackling each game,” Potvin said. “She’s a phenomenal tackler but is often the first player to offensive and defensive rucks. She’s also one of those players who is often the ballcarrier right before we score – the set-up player. She definitely sets the tone defensively.”
As the fall continued, it became clear that New England and Bowdoin would advance to the season finale. The other Tier 2 teams, all in various stages of their varsity transformation, had numbers issues and either forfeited or canceled games, or played 7s or 10s.
“Even though this season is our second as a varsity program, it was a season of a lot of firsts in many realms,” Potvin said. “The scheduling was something I had never dealt with, even as a club coach, with last-minute cancelations. Some cancelations were happening the Tuesday or Wednesday the week of. … It was very stressful.”
Potvin scrambled to replace fixtures and turned to her connections within the New England club conferences. Mathews, who has been operating a varsity program since 2002-03, reached out to Tier 2 coaches before the summer, requesting roster updates so contingency plans could be made. Forfeits from Castleton and Molloy followed. Fortunately the Polar Bears had lined up competitive friendlies against some of the traditionally stronger USA Rugby DII teams – St. Michael’s, Univ. Maine-Orono and Colby.
“Tier 2 teams have to work together moving forward. There is a lot of potential to work with one another even before the schedules release to make sure all the teams are doing what’s best for all the teams,” Potvin said. “You definitely want to help out teams that are struggling with numbers … but it was a little bit of a tug of war. We need to do what’s best for our program going forward and getting to a championship match, but also be understanding for programs that are still growing.”
For example, UNE was scheduled to play LIU Post in Brookville, N.Y., but the first-season team’s roster only supported 7s. While Potvin wanted to support the brand-new team, it was difficult to convince the athletic department that a 600-mile roundtrip for a single 7s game is worth the expense. Fortunately for LIU Post, it had local Tier 2 teams Molloy and Sacred Heart to get some field time.
“The players stayed pretty focused,” Potvin addressed the potential effects of the schedule mishaps. “One thing I always preach is communication, communication, communication. Communication was very open with myself and the athletic department, and from the captains to the team. That definitely helped us in maintaining focus.”
The Nor’easters channeled that focus and a renewed confidence in the Tier 2 championship against Bowdoin. Towne led the way with four tries in the 57-14 win, while Kaitlin Drumheller (2), Jenni Laferriere, Murnik, Courtney Mills, Andrea Call and Emma Foss also dotted down. Zoe Adams kicked one conversion. Bowdoin got hit by injuries and its squad of 30-plus whittled down to 17 traveling. Liz D’Angelo led Bowdoin’s scoring with a try and two conversions while Safiya Osei accounted for the Polar Bears’ first-half score.
“I love UNE’s playing style. They’re very supportive and have aggressive runners,” Mathews said. “There were probably 3-4 tries that we gave them – an intercept pass for 80 meters – but you take those 15-20 points away and it’s more respectable.
“They were disappointed but for the most part they understand that every season is defined by incremental successes and gains,” Mathews continued. “Whether a recruit or walk-on, everyone set daily and weekly goals to get better, and they did that. The team today doesn’t resemble the one from September.”
Potvin gave a special shout-out to her backline for playing good positional defense and employing smart decision-making out wide. In the forwards, the coach was impressed with Kathryn Maiato, who doesn’t typically start but fulfilled her front row role with aplomb.
“Us and Bowdoin, being the two varsity teams in Maine, have a healthy rivalry. It’s been really nice,” Potvin said. “We’re two completely different schools and programs, but I speak with coach Mathews frequently about Tier 2 and other things in the rugby world.
“Having this official Tier 2 championship is very important for the growth of NIRA, especially for the schools that have declared that they’re elevating women’s rugby [to varsity] for the 2018-19 campaign,” Potvin referenced teams like Colby-Sawyer and Roger Williams. “Having that Tier 2 pathway available will help growth.”
For those teams that are transitioning to varsity, the growth plan needs to start way before opening day. The fact that New England and Bowdoin retained many of their club players once they joined the athletic department greatly aided those early days when numbers makes such a big difference in morale and momentum.
“I lost very few players when we transitioned from club to varsity,” Potvin explained. “UNE is very heavy in health sciences that require a lot of clinical hours and internships. When I was hired, I had to make sure that students weren’t worried about doing a varsity sport and also fulfilling their academic responsibilities.”
The highlights continue for UNE. Before the spring 7s season kicks off, the Nor’easters will head to Ireland over spring break for the program’s first rugby tour abroad. Bowdoin, too, will be active 7s participants, and those Tier 2 teams that struggled with numbers in the fall will have be viable contenders in the abbreviated version of the sport.
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