Claremont captain Jessie Ribera (2017) / Photo: Ami Kikuchi
The DII Gold Coast conference kicked off the 2018 spring season last weekend, and Claremont Colleges spent Saturday earning a 54-12 win over MiraCosta College. Both teams represent changes to the league this year, which includes six teams that all have winning potential.
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MiraCosta is a community college and competing in its first 15s league season. Claremont lent the newcomer some players, and Foxes head coach Evan Wollen credited the young program with a good game that was fueled by several players with high school experience. Claremont scored eight tries, with flanker Sophie Baker leading the way with two, and fullback Alexandra Parker slotting seven conversions.
“We tried a few new things. Some worked and some didn’t,” Wollen said. “I’m very happy with the pack. We’re always a little smaller than the other team and have to come up with coping strategies. … We want more attacking with the forwards this season and to integrate them with the backs more.”
Although the season just began, it’s worth noting the post-season considering Claremont has adjusted its alignments this year. In spring 2017, the Foxes competed in the DII Gold Coast during league play and then during the post-season switched to a newly created competition: NSCRO Pacific Coast Championship. Claremont (and Occidental) qualifies for small school status and was open to NSCRO’s efforts to engage spring-based teams. The plan was that the Pacific Coast champion would receive an automatic berth to the NSCRO national Round of 16 in November 2017. (This is how Southern California used to name its representatives to the club national championships, when the women’s event was held in the fall.)
Claremont won the four-team Pacific Coast championship (read more) and then had an important question to field: Should we take the berth to the NSCRO national championship, to be held in fall 2017?
“We talked before the players left last May: Did we want to continue in NSCRO or make the decision to compete in DII,” Wollen said. “The players felt they would rather compete in DII – that that’s where they thought their level was at.”
It was always going to be an experiment for NSCRO, and the organization realized it was a big ask for a team to compete for a national title out of season. This year there is no NSCRO Pacific Coast Championship, although Western Oregon and CSU Monterey Bay will play a one-off match.
Claremont (and St. Mary’s College in the DII West Coast) did participate in the 2017 NSCRO 7s National Championship and a return to the 2018 iteration is in the works.
There is plenty of rugby to play before post-season scenarios arise, and watch for captains Dana Alimena at inside center and Jessie Ribera at flanker to usher their team, which draws 30+ to practice, through the season. Claremont will of course miss influential players like Katelyn Faust, but there is plenty of field time to develop the new influx of athletes.
“Every year it seems everyone gets stronger,” Wollen said of the Gold Coast field. “[Occidental] looks better than previous years; UCI, Long Beach look good. [Riverside] looks like they took a little dip but they’re always strong.”
Claremont’s six league games are scheduled on consecutive weekends, and round two sees the Foxes face off against USC.