Photo courtesy Boston Women’s Rugby Club
Boston is one of those teams in one of those regions that plays two full seasons. League play occurs in the fall and names representatives to Competitive Region playoffs, which are then contested in the spring. The two peaks bring complications to maintaining competitiveness, fitness and players, but Boston also benefitted from the Gold Cup, which helped ready the team for the post-season.
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“The hardest part is picking back up in the spring,” Boston player-coach Stacey Markovic explained. “We had several blizzards, snowstorms, nor’easters that forced us to stay inside until the practice before our first Gold Cup match of the spring. It really limits how contact-ready teams can be when they are spending most of March in bad weather. It becomes hard to integrate new players [to rugby] in those early games because they have just completed their intro to contact and we want to make sure they are going to be safe on the field.”
Boston did value the Gold Cup matches, three of which were played in the spring. All five matches were decided by 17 points or fewer, and they immediately highlighted areas of needed improvement in advance of CR playoffs.
“Having games that are not necessarily viewed as friendlies brings the competitiveness of both our own team as well as opposing teams up,” Markovic summarized.
Monmouth, too, joined the Gold Cup during the competition’s second year of existence, but Boston dispatched of Empire champion 55-0 in the CR crossover semifinal. Meanwhile Albany took down the Village Lions 34-0. That set up an all-New England final in early May.
“Both on offense and defense, they are strong and tough in all contact areas, especially in the rucks,” Markovic broke down Albany. “They have a very dynamic outside center who can find gaps, make decisions, and distribute like an additional 10 but in more space. We knew they were going to try to get the ball wide, but a strong-running back three posed a challenge.”
Flyhalf Dee Nash and inside center Paige Stathopoulos were relentless on defense, making tackle after tackle to shut down the outside channels. On offense, Markovic singled out locks Elise Ordile and Mick Conway, “who were all over the field rucking, winning lineouts, and carrying the ball into the tough Albany defense,” Markovic praised. “[Loose forward] Tory Avery had physical play all day that allowed us to match Albany in physicality and cause some disruptions in their play.”
That diligence helped produce turnovers, and quick play saw overloads exploited, where rugby newcomer Kirsti Kirshe awaited.
“She has picked up the game with a willingness to learn, complemented with athleticism and thirst to win that you can’t teach,” Markovic lauded.
Kirshe scored four first-half tries and another two in the second half. The wing also scored four tries against Monmouth the weekend prior. Scrumhalf Markovic kicked three conversions and a penalty in the 39-12 win and Atlantic North title.
Up next is Detroit, a team that Boston beat 17-0 in New Jersey during the Gold Cup. Markovic expects an 80-minute battle with the Midwest champion in the Eastern Regional Championship on Saturday.
“The team has multiple players that can run threateningly with the ball,” the player-coach looked ahead. “We need to build our defensive wall and shut them down before they make the break. Detroit also had no problem with scrumming and rucking, so we have to be disciplined and execute in our set pieces and team play. We have to come out and play our style of rugby for the full 80 minutes!”
Saturday’s victor will play the winner of Raleigh and Philadelphia, a re-match of the Mid-Atlantic championship. Philly advanced to eastern regionals, aka national quarterfinals, after winning a repechage match against Albany.
“The team is most definitely ready to return to the national playoff scene,” Markovic enthused. “The excitement has been picking up both on the field at practice as well as with our extremely supportive alumni network. The club has been able to lean on each other throughout the year – fall, off, and spring seasons – [and] players are hungry to get out there and do what it takes to make the team successful, which is awesome to be a part of.”
But there’s no rest for the weary. Should Boston go 2-0 this weekend and advance to the national final agaisnt the western regional champion, then the team will have just two weeks to transition to 7s and host its annual Boston 7s tournament on June 16.
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