Ordway, seen here during last year’s DII national championship, was the leading try-scorer for Davenport this weekend. •
Davenport was placed in a difficult position this year, and it’s not an unfamiliar situation. Sometimes winning a national championship has unintended consequences – look at Mary Washington. When the school won the 2013-14 DII title, the on-campus recruiting suddenly dwindled, and coaches believed that potential newcomers were intimidated by the team’s national credentials. For the Panthers, it was the opposition that wavered.
“This year has been the worst year for us with all the forfeits,” reported Davenport captain Danielle Ordway, who played last weekend’s games after three-straight weeks of dormancy. “People do not want to play us and say we need to go DI. Coaches and players need to know that we are trying, but it is a process. We want to play teams that want to play us, have better competition, and to get better individually.”
Davenport did attempt to join a DI conference for fall 2016, but it wasn’t the right fit. During its light schedule, the team continued to practice everyday but lacked game time to really build that chemistry and understanding. The result was a Panthers team that was a little rusty in its Round of 16 match Saturday.
“We came out slow Saturday, yet we kept our heads up, grinded through our mistakes and ended the game playing our game,” Ordway recounted the 57-7 win over Cincinnati. “We have made mounds of progress with how young our team is this year. On Sunday, we showed how universal our players are. Many players played positions that they have only practiced but never played during a game.”
A strong defensive effort allowed an 88-0 win over Illinois State in the Sunday quarterfinal, and the shutout came from the hands of Davenport’s youngest team since its inaugural year in 2013. There’s still a core group with 3-4 years of experience together – including Ordway, Brenna Donahue, Hannah Tennant, Madison Sparks, Amy Plambeck, Allison Miedzielec, among others – who maintain the structure and organization. And there’s a bright crop of young talent buoying the ranks: aggressive, speedy wing Olivia Ortiz is a player to watch; sophomore Veronica Overbeek punished the field with monster tackles and runs; freshman No. 8 Hannah Garcia was speedy in support and tough picking off the back; and sophomore Bailey St. Amour, a Tennessee transfer, is an all-around asset in the pack with good hands, support and ball-carrying skills.
“We have great talent, but back to what I said earlier, we haven’t been able to click like we have wanted to and like we have in the past seasons due to lack of games played,” Ordway reiterated. “This last weekend showed if we support each other and play our game and structure, we conquer the field. Sometimes when we get out of structure we get lost, which is a hindering point itself. We need to be able to just play rugby. A happy medium needs to be found between having structure and just playing with what the other team is giving us.”
But overall, Ordway was pleased with her team’s output this weekend. The coordination, individual decision-making and go-forward all looked good, and the captain is looking forward to returning to the DII fall semifinals, where its most competitive matches were played last year. Davenport will play Vassar (read more) in the semifinals, while Winona State (read more) and Coast Guard (read more) battle on the other side of bracket Saturday, Dec. 3. Games will be live-streamed at The Rugby Channel.