After five years of advancing to the regional semifinals, Cincinnati is now the Midwest’s DII club champion. The Kelts are the first to book a spot at the DII national championship, and will compete in the eastern portion of the Round of 8 in May 2018.
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Cincinnati competed at nationals in 2008 and advanced to a Midwest final in a subsequent year, but the last five seasons ended at the region’s final four, according to Kelts head coach Al Lucas.
“There was a point in time, about two years ago, when the team had to look in the mirror and decide what they wanted to do,” said Lucas, who has been with the team off and on for the last eight years. “They could have packed it in right there. Instead, they started recruiting better, did more work in the off-season, and the bulk of them play 7s for me [with the Cincinnati Wolfhounds] in the summer. They made a commitment and pushed it all the way through to the national tournament. That’s been their goal.”
Good, talented numbers meant Lucas needed to experiment with combinations to find the right formula. Cincinnati had that flexibility as it went on to win its first three games 277-5, and looked to the leadership of captain Gina Fanelli to keep the team united while lineups fluctuated. She anchors the squad, and the pack especially, from No. 8 and leaned on her fellow loose forwards for consistency. The front row saw 7-8 players rotate through, as the team traded size for mobility. The backs also tried new pairings each game, and selector Kaitlynn Kerley held her post at fullback and was the mark of reliability.
Cincinnati did not have a full understanding of its capabilities during those run-away wins, but got the gauge it needed in Scioto Valley. Cincinnati dropped a 10-0 contest, and that loss helped right the Kelts for a post-season push. The team defeated South Buffalo 41-0 in the East Division semifinals and then Buffalo, which had defeated Scioto Valley 12-10, in the East final. It was a rematch of last year’s Midwest semifinals, when the Kelts gave up a 10-point lead during the final 15 minutes of play to lose 24-22.
For Cincinnati, it was about matching up. The forwards needed to enforce a more mobile game against a larger pack while maintaining its set pieces, and the backs needed to stifle Buffalo’s talented backline. And everyone needed to excel defensively. Despite the water-logged pitch and messy conditions, the first 15 minutes were action packed. Cincinnati wing Krista Dyer scored, and then Buffalo outside center Kala Crawford answered. Jenna Hutzler’s conversion gave Buffalo the 7-5 lead until Kelts wing JaLisa Elkins scored, 10-7.
Photo: Moore PhotoImagery
As it turned out, that was the final score of the game, and Cincinnati advanced to the Midwest final against West Division champion Palmer College, which defeated Grand Rapids 26-0 for the berth. Cincinnati sent the same squad to Lemont, Ill, and readied for a fast, athletic opponent that could score from anywhere.
Kerley and Dyer scored in the first 15 minutes, and then Palmer College inside center Hailey Eckstein, who earned high praise from Lucas, notched a try for the Dragons, 10-5. The Kelts did well to stifle a momentum shift, sending Megan Davidson and Melissa Thompson twice into the try zone, 25-5 at half. In the second half, Dyer, Thompson and flyhalf Courtney Moore scored, and scrumhalf Danielle Bass added two conversions for the 44-5 win.
“I’m not sure that it was one-sided; it was very physical and tough,” Lucas said. “For us it was more about the experience we have as a group and the overall desire to take away things that Palmer excelled at. We needed to keep them bottled up and really press them with our loose forwards. The mobility of our forwards really put pressure on them and freed up our backline.”
Lucas pointed to Fanelli as a dominant force on defense and dangerous when picking off the back of the scrum. The coach also highlighted Thompson, who had to contend with Eckstein and did nice job offensively with three tries.
“We always knew we were on the cusp,” Lucas said. “Last year when we lost to Buffalo, they lost to the eventual national champion [20-14 to Milwaukee Scylla]. Every team we lost to won nationals or was one game away from the national tournament, so we knew how close we were.”
And now Cincinnati can embrace the fact that it’s heading to the national quarterfinals. This year, the Midwest moved to name its champions in the fall rather than delay to the spring, and the shift has been well received. The Kelts have ample time to fundraise, plan a competitive spring schedule and mentally prepare for a push at nationals.