Photos courtesy Raleigh Rugby Club
After claiming several DII club national titles, followed by appearances in the DI post-season, Raleigh is now getting its first shot at the DI national championship. But the opportunity required some work, as a runner-up finish at the Mid-Atlantic Conference (MAC) championship forced the Venom into the repechage. Fortunately, the North Carolina team didn’t have to wedge another travel weekend into its schedule and entered the eastern regional championships as the fourth seed … and exited as the top seed.
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Things were going well for Raleigh in 2017. The team played several competitive matches in between league games and won the D.C. Ruggerfest Premier division. Just before the MAC season ended, Raleigh defeated both DI national finalist Chicago North Shore and Detroit, handily, in the final round of the Gold Cup, and had a bunch of momentum heading into its final league game against NOVA.
But NOVA was having a good spring season, too, and won that April 22 league-ender 19-5. The following weekend in the MAC final, NOVA triumphed again 14-5.
“We went away from the system completely, and NOVA beat us,” said Raleigh backs coach Neil Pietila, who serves alongside head coach Rick McBride and forwards coach Mike Streiker. “We didn’t quite learn our lesson all that well. NOVA’s a great team, they put pressure on us and beat us again in the MAC final.
“In the first one, maybe we were a little overconfident,” Pietila searched for explanations. “In the MAC final, they were anxious to get in [to nationals]. Everybody was doing a little too much – extra meters, extra offload, late decisions in the passes. Those small details were pulling us out of the system, as everyone was trying to accommodate what was happening and trying to individually pick the team back up.”
The result saw NOVA advance directly to the DI eastern championships (aka, national quarterfinals and semifinals) in Pittsburgh, while Raleigh was rerouted to the repechage. The South does not supply a DI team to the eastern regionals, and so two of three runners-up from the Midwest, Atlantic North and Mid-Atlantic were meant to contest that fourth seed. (In 2016, Beantown beat NOVA for the fourth seed). But no such repechage occurred and Raleigh earned the berth considering its resume of wins this spring.
Raleigh was happy to bank extra training. Pietila explained that the staff regularly films games and collects stats, and they provided the foci for two weeks of practices. By the time eastern regionals arrived, the Venom was ready for Atlantic North champion Beantown. Raleigh built a 22-5 halftime lead and finished with a 42-10 win.
“We have been pushing pretty heavily in the backs to take as much territory as [the opposition is] willing to give us,” Pietela said. “The back three are just so fast that we like to push that right from the get-go. We were just taking territory from Beantown, and they had trouble covering behind the wing and fullback. And our chasers were right up on them. Pressure got them on the front foot and we carried that momentum. … We only played in our half when we had discipline issues in the breakdowns – that’s where Beantown was able to come back in.”
The back three includes wings Holly Zoeller and Sarah Rosche and fullback Jaz Gray. Team captain Chelsea Garber is the one deploying the kicking game, and she has a good eye for space. She directs the attack alongside vice captain Tonya Fletcher, the scrumhalf.
Meanwhile, NOVA eliminated Chicago North Shore from contention with a 28-24 quarterfinal win. The May 21 semifinal between NOVA and Raleigh marked the teams’ third match against each other in a month.
“There’s always some apprehension because if you play someone that close in that close of a timeframe, then you know what each other’s going to do,” Pietila said. “They knew they just had to execute. The good thing was we did stats against Beantown that night and found some opportunities where we could turn our play into some positives.
“We had some discipline issues in our counter-rucks where we weren’t looking for the opportunity correctly,” the contact specialist explained. “We changed the decision-making that if it wasn’t a 75-100% chance for a turnover, then we leave it alone. We zeroed out our rucks and just started applying line pressure, putting 1-2 players into the tackles, which we were able to do by not competing in the rucks. It frustrated NOVA.”
Garber gave Raleigh a 3-0 halftime lead with the first of two penalties, and then the Venom outscored NOVA 15-10 in the second half with tries from reserve hooker Grace McGovern and inside center Jennifer Larrimore. Raleigh won 18-10 for the team’s first trip to the DI national championship.
“A year ago, when they lost to Chicago North Shore in the semifinals, the goal became to do better than they did last year – which meant getting through the semifinals for a chance to compete for the national championship,” Pietila said. “They worked hard through the fall and off-season and continue to work on the off-days. They’re 100% in it and ready to put out max effort.”
Raleigh got the NOVA win when it counted and will now face Life West, the reigning DII national champion, in the DI final Saturday.
“The only question that pops up for me is if we’re going to walk in and play the structures we have in place or slip a bit and have to chase the game,” Pietila said. “It’s more mental at this point. Physically they know what to do.”
Regardless of what happens in Glendale, Colo., this Saturday, Pietila is already singing the praises of Raleigh’s achievements this year.
“One of the main pieces that came from this season was that the team is able to compete,” the coach reflected. “It shows how good they can be and are. There’s room to improve but they’re already performing against very good teams.”
