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Grand Canyon 1st to a Pacific Desert W

  • 13 Jan 2020
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Photo: Jeff Dalton

The Division I Pacific Desert conference began its 15s season last weekend and saw Grand Canyon University defeat 2019 league champion UC Santa Barbara 19-5 in California. The Lopes are under new direction with Lindsay Mahoney, who replaced previous head coach Jessica Carpenter beginning fall 2019.

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“When I inherited the program, we had lost a lot of seniors … and had six, seven returners. It was a little bit of a scary time,” Mahoney said of repopulating a roster.

The first-time head coach, who played for Arizona State, Tempe, Stars, ARPTC, Suttonians (IRE) and more, searched everywhere for recruits. At times, Mahoney spent eight hours per day canvassing the student union looking for “players who were crazy enough to start playing last minute,” the coach confessed.

Fortunately Mahoney had the support of founding members Jasmine Fifer, Jaime Massey and Kat Lanzante and veteran Amanda Garcia to aid in the recruitment process. They drive the team and provide the example for influential sophomores Taylor Marasco, Amberae Falemalu and Sachiko Williams. The Kahuku High School products brings the depth and energy necessary for a high performance program to succeed.

Together, these efforts paid off and now the Arizona program has a workable roster.

“Megan Cooney is playing lock for us,” Mahoney said of the rookie. “She has a great step and is solid; one of those hard-to-find players. I’m excited about her future in the sport.

“Heather Thomas has been a blessing,” the coach added. “She’s a freshman from Idaho and came with some high school rugby experience playing in Boise. She’s our flyhalf now and has been a great addition.”

Before the team even stepped on the pitch, Mahoney and team spent a month formulating its goals and team culture.

“They came up with two goals: One, become a rugby family; and two, be more accountable with each other. So we drilled that in,” Mahoney said. “Since then, we’ve become more process oriented, and we’ve taken that – trusting in the process – as our theme this season. When we put our heads down and focus on the same process, we’ll come to bigger goals down the road. It’s been fun figuring it out with the girls and building a team culture, and now we’re at a place where we have the community that we didn’t see at the beginning of the season.”

The first league game of the year saw Grand Canyon travel to UC Santa Barbara, last year’s conference champion that advanced to the DI spring semifinals.

“They were a little timid going into UCSB,” Mahoney considered the number of training sessions (2) after winter break and potential intimidation factor having lost to the Gauchos last year. “We were defending in our half for the first 20 minutes and the girls were playing a little scared – which shocked me, because we have some incredibly strong runners. They weren’t taking it to the gainline and getting that go-forward that I usually see.”

Something clicked at the 20-minute mark, however, and once the aggression showed itself, Grand Canyon began to play with confidence. The team also paired down its offensive strategy, temporarily shelving the newly introduced 1331 attack for something more familiar, and the points began to evolve.

Scrumhalf Ashley Jones went 30 meters for the game’s first try, and then prop Fifer took a wider punch off Thomas and pierced the outside defense for a second try. UCSB responded with a try before the break, and the Lopes took a one-try lead into halftime.

The game intensified near the 60-minute mark, when Grand Canyon incurred a yellow card, but the Lopes’ defense was able to withstand the pressure. Toward the end of the match, a few penalties in the Gauchos’ end put Grand Canyon in scoring position and flanker Falemalu dotted down the try. With Thomas’ two conversions, the Lopes won 19-5.

“It’s huge,” Mahoney said of the win’s impact on confidence. “It feels like a different team.

“In the fall, I thought: This is going to be a complete rebuilding season and I have to be O.K. with that,” the coach continued. “But the grit and tenacity of the girls has me thinking differently. This will still be a rebuilding season – we won’t have the numbers and depth this season, but we will next year – but we’ll still be a challenging team and accomplish cool things this season.”

BYU awaits this Saturday. The Cougars are new to the Pacific Desert this year and come in as the reigning USA Rugby DI Spring College Championship titleholder. Grand Canyon will be working on its scrum and ramping up the aggression in that set piece, and look to build off the momentum that showed itself at the 20-minute mark on Saturday.

“I’m really proud of these girls,” Mahoney closed. “This season could have taken so many different turns, and I’m really proud of their response to that. I didn’t realize how much I’d love coaching until I stepped into it, and ’m insanely excited about the years to come.”

GrandCanyon #PacificDesert

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