Photos: Rachel Thorne (view more)
The Frostbite tournament (Lancaster, Pa.), run by Penn Legacy’s Joe Capp and Tom Hollowell, once again featured top girls’ high schools from the Mid-Atlantic region as well as healthy college and middle school divisions. Virginia’s West End dominated the high school scene, going 6-0 across two days, and produced the Canterbury High School Player of the Week.
RELATED: Ruckettes Win Frostbite (2016) • All-West End Final Caps VA Season • Canterbury High School Player of February
The Ruckettes didn’t participate in last year’s club high school national championship but have committed to this year’s event, which occurs in Elkhart, Ind., alongside the single-school championship. The team started mobilizing early in the season, but coach Matt Estes has been surprised in the players’ demeanor.
“It’s a little different. The whole team is relaxed and calm,” Estes said. “They’re focused on the the next game, the next tournament, and are really focused on playing as a team. It’s kind of a different vibe. They’re just as excited and enthusiastic, but I see a level of maturity I haven’t seen before. They’re attacking the game from a total-team perspective and working hard to make each other better.”
That maturity came through at Frostbite and was emblematized by Canterbury High School Player of the Week Elizabeth Wilson. The senior captain and No. 8 was coming off of the USA Rugby Academy Girls High School Resident Camp in Florida, and her leadership was needed immediately.
“Our West Carroll game was pretty bad,” Estes said of the Frostbite opener against the Maryland state champion. “We weren’t sharp yet. It took us that game to understand what we needed to improve as a team. We had some good individual performances, but it wasn’t really a victory for the team.”
West End won that match 22-12 and throughout the rest of the tournament worked on defensive structures, shored up the attack, and made some positional changes. The Ruckettes defeated Doylestown 35-0, North Bay 33-0, Knightmares (Penn Legacy) 40-0, and North Bay again 50-5. That set up a West Carroll rematch in game six, which West End won 51-5.
“The reason it was our best game of weekend has nothing to do with score line,” Estes explained. “We unfortunately had a couple of lazy high tackles, and 10 minutes into the game had two red cards. … They had to play 13 against 15, but the girls really dug deep and showed good resolve over the course of the game. … Because of the defense and how they pooled together, we had a second-half shutout. The way they rebounded from that early setback was really impressive.
“Right from the beginning, [Wilson] was providing off-the-field leadership for younger players,” Estes explained his recommendation for Player of the Week. “She was really directing traffic in the forwards and provided most of the go-forward for the pack and had great linkups with the back line. She hit 75-80% of her conversions and a penalty kick, was great on defense, and relaxed and superb on attack.”
Estes also credited the outstanding performance of the front row, which has adapted to a more sophisticated attack that requires more mobile, physical pack players. Junior tighthead prop Bella Horton got serious about her strength and conditioning in the off-season and was promoted from the second side this year. Senior hooker Alyssa Erickson scored six tries and did a good job winning ball in the scrum and sending solid throw-ins, but her real value could be seen as she connected with the back line. And then loosehead prop Mahtab Abbasi looked bigger and stronger since her ACL injury. She was tough to stop on the run and it showed on the score sheet.
And then in the backs, flyhalf Kayla Estes kept the attack in working order and connected well with new scrumhalf Val Deza, who migrated from the pack this year.
Frostbite and other events like the Maryland Exiles’ youth tournament and Northeast Invitational are critical to teams that have separated themselves from their local competition. They lure teams that can boast similar attributes as the Ruckettes: fantastic numbers, a burgeoning middle school arm, and two teams in the Virginia high school’s varsity league.
“But we have a responsibility to go back to the teams in our own state and help them to develop as well,” Estes countered. “That’ll improve the overall landscape of the game.”
West End’s regular season begins this weekend as the second side takes on Fort Hunt. Estes is starting all first-year players and 11 freshmen in that match.
FROSTBITE RESULTS
GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL
West End 22-12 West Carroll
Doylestown 12-12 Knightmares
West End 35-0 Doylestown
West End 33-0 North Bay 1
Knightmares 31-0 North Bay 2
West End 40-0 Knightmares
Doylestown 41-0 North Bay 2
North Bay 1 12-7 Fort Hunt
Fort Hunt 38-0 North Bay 2
West Carroll 29-10 North Bay 1
West Carroll 21-5 Fort Hunt
West End 50-5 North Bay 1
West End 51-5 West Carroll
Fort Hunt 25-5 Knightmares
North Bay 1 24-17 West Carroll
Fort Hunt 25-24 Doylestown
Knightmares 25-0 North Bay 2
Doylestown 43-0 North Bay 2
WOMEN’S COLLEGE
Clarion 15-5 Maryland
Pittsburgh 5-0 Stony Brook
Temple 27-0 Clarion
Stony Brook 24-15 Maryland
Pittsburgh 7-7 Temple
Pittsburgh 15-0 Clarion
Temple 24-7 Stony Brook
Pittsburgh 38-0 Maryland
Pittsburgh 43-0 Maryland
Clarion 20-7 Maryland
GIRLS’ MIDDLE SCHOOL
Penn Legacy/West End 14-12 Doylestown
Rugby Maryland 31-0 Morris
Penn Legacy/West End 30-0 Fort Hunt
Doylestown 22-0 Morris
Fort Hunt 5-0 Rugby Maryland
Penn Legacy/West End 26-0 Morris
Doylestown 29-0 Rugby Maryland
Morris 30-15 Fort Hunt