DI club national champion Life West is in a similar situation as last year, operating in a different plane than the local teams but unable to explore other competition options. This spring, the Gladiatrix played the top tier of NorCal’s Division II and were grateful to Berkeley’s Women’s Premier League team for a set of games – the combination of which qualified the team for nationals. Otherwise, the tests have originated from within the team.
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“It’s been another frustrating season,” Life West Director of Athletics Adriaan Ferris said. “We know [local] teams aren’t keen on playing us, so we tried to split the team up to test our girls and put a lot of pressure on them internally. If you’re not showing up to training, then we put them on the B side, even if that meant not putting the best players on the A side. It created some issues early on, issues around frustration. … Sports is a funny thing. A team is like a family. You’ll get on each other when you’re bored.”
The team has been training 4-5 times per week for the previous 4-5 months. The men’s team has jumped into training at times, but nothing takes the place of games.
“We’re concerned about that to be fair. Hopefully it doesn’t impact us too much in [Ft. Worth],” Ferris looked ahead to the western regional championships this May 19-20. “All we can do is focus on the next game against Utah. That will be good game for the girls; they’re chomping at the bit.”
Life West played the Utah Vipers in last year’s national semifinals and know a bruiser of a game is on order.
“They’re a very physical side with a lot of Polynesian girls who like to hit hard, so we’ve got to be mindful of a defense that flies at us. But if we stick to our structure and attack shape, we have enough intent to get the win,” Ferris said. “Utah’s not going to be easy, and what was done up until this point doesn’t matter. We’ll need to make adjustments when things go wrong, but that’s about being mentally ready, not physically ready.”
Fortunately for Life West, the team returns a slew of nationals veterans. Catie Benson, Elizabeth Cairns, Nikki Kenyon and Jenn Sever comprise the leadership group, and they direct a playoff-bound squad that is almost entirely familiar. Eagle Nicole Strasko is a first-year student, and Mata Hingano is back from injury. The latter will slot in next to Amy Naber for a stellar combo and head to Chula Vista when the team returns from Texas.
Madison Porter is the new face, both to the sport of rugby and the school. But as a scholarship athlete at the University of Colorado, where she played tennis, the crossover understands high performance and is teeming with potential.
“Now we do have healthy interest [in Life West] and that comes with the last two years of success,” Ferris said. “We want to be a pathway for players who also want to study here. We take our rugby pretty seriously and focus on good S&C, nutrition program, performance care being a chiropractic school. There are a lot of incentives to play at Life West.”
Life West just needs the regular competition to match, and the Gladiatrix have made moves toward that missing piece by applying to join the Women’s Premier League this fall.
“We believe we’re strong enough, and there are a couple more players who have applied to attend the college that have played for the U.S. national team,” Ferris said. “We have to challenge our players to be the best they can be, and we’re hopeful for the WPL. If not, we’ll have to try and work something out.”
Also in the western portion of the bracket, Pacific South champion Tempe will play Red River champion Austin, which also had its DII team qualify for nationals. Stay tuned for more team previews, as well as some interesting partnerships that Life West and Ferris are cultivating.
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