Mankato State endured a losing season in fall 2018 and needed a boost. Then the team learned that former head coach Tyler Ranslow had returned to Minnesota after a stint in California, and convinced him to rejoin the staff. Good things followed and now the Norther Lights squad is heading to the regional phase of the USA Rugby DII Fall College Championship this weekend.
RELATED: Fall Championship Brackets (use tabs at bottom of doc to move between comps)
“Last year they only won one game and they wanted to be more competitive,” Ranslow said. “They know my coaching style and my expectations, and they also knew my track record. Every year that I’ve had a full team we’ve made it to the Round of 16.”
That familiarity allowed the team to adapt quickly to the returning coach, but the veteran leadership was also crucial to cementing that coach-player connection.
“The biggest helps were Autumn White, who has played No. 8 for the most part, and [tighthead] Kate Quesenberry, and then there were others who stepped up in leadership roles,” Ranslow said. “It also really helped that we had a good freshman class led by Rhiannon Boyens-Luke. She played flyhalf most of the season.”
As Ranslow familiarized himself with the players, he focused on conditioning and on-field organization. Being away from the league for a bit, the coach didn’t know what to expect in terms of regular-season competition, but presumed it would be difficult given last year’s record. Week 1 pit Mankato against MSU Moorhead, an NSCRO team that plays up in the DII league during the regular season (Moorhead is heading to NSCRO nationals in December).
“That first game was really close. We were down at half and came back to win 22-19,” Ranslow said. “That was a big win for them and set the tone and they took it running into the rest of the season.”
Mankato went on to beat St. Cloud 53-22, North Dakota State 32-0, North Dakota 63-0 and UM Duluth 88-12.
“One of my coaching pillars is ‘constant performance improvement,’ so I didn’t care about the product so much as the process,” Ranslow said. “I always wanted them to be better day in, day out, whether it was practice to practice or minute to minute.
“We had been continually adding things as we progressed,” the coach continued. “Every week we added a new facet to the offense or the defense, and they did a really good job of taking on new ideas. It always seemed like we’d have an injury and have to replace a player and move positions around, so everyone picked up new and different positions and did it very well.”
By the time the conference playoffs arrived, Mankato was playing the way in which Ranslow had hoped. In the Northern Lights semifinals, Mankato beat St. Cloud State 49-17. MSU Moorhead beat North Dakota 83-21 on the other side of the bracket, setting up a rematch about which Mankato had mixed feelings.
“For me, the conference title wasn’t the goal; nationals was the goal,” Ranslow said of the fall championship. [Remember: There is no national championship for USA Rugby’s DI and DII women’s colleges, but seasonal fall and spring championships. Click here for perspective.] “Since Moorhead plays NSCRO, I had felt like that game was unnecessary since we’d both get our bids [to our respective post-seasons]. I didn’t want to risk injury but we weren’t able to get out of the game.”
Like the teams’ first meeting, Moorhead took the lead into the half, but Mankato rallied again for a 22-17 win. Unfortunately, In the 79th minute, Boyens-Luke tore her ACL and is done for the season.
“Even though we lost our flyhalf, they came together,” Ranslow said. “When I coached here previously, I tried to instill a culture of always being positive and focusing on what’s next. It seems like they’ve kept that culture. When we get scored on, or something bad happens, they really are able to reconnect with each other and put it behind them.”
There was one more seeding match before the Fall Round of 32: a seeding match against Winona State, which played in the DI Midwest during the regular season. Ranslow indicated that the team was still eager to learn new things in the practices leading up to the match, but that losing a key player like Boyens-Luke did have an impact.
“With Winona’s reputation, as far as their track record and the winning they’ve done for the last 10 years so, they bring an aura to the game that not many other teams around here bring,” Ranslow said. “They were very excited about the game, because it is competitive; it was just the injuries that were the biggest thing.”
Winona State won 53-0 and took the top seed to the regional playoffs, where a first-round bye through the Fall Round of 32 awaited. Meanwhile, runner-up Mankato traveled to Great Waters runner-up UW Eau Claire for last Saturday’s knockout.
“A couple of the players had come with me to scout them, and it helped them regain some confidence,” Ranslow said. “We had to change a couple more things due to injuries: Kate Quesenberry broke her fibula, and she scores at least half of our points for us. Our offense was very centered around her running ability so we had to change a couple things. But I think the opportunity to go to [the fall championship] was their driving factor. They wanted to show that they were good enough to be there, and the other players wanted to prove that they could play, too.”
Jordan Quinnell Brust moved from the forwards to flyhalf to play her very first game in the crucial decision-making role.
“She’s been playing flanker and always plays super hard, but this move helped her grow as a player as far as being a vocal leader instead of just doing her job,” Ranslow said. “Otherwise, a lot of people just stepped up more in their roles. Autumn [White] moved up [to prop] to replace Kate, and her senior leadership really helped.”
Mankato won 37-5 and heads to the West pool of the Fall Round of 16. Unfortunately, this grouping awarded three byes in the Round of 32, meaning Mankato is joining a pool with conference champions. Thus, Mankato will face top-seeded Winona State in Saturday’s playoff match.
“It was a little bit of a letdown when we found out we had to play Winona, but at the same time, I feel like all of them know they can compete with anybody on any given Saturday,” Ranslow said. “They’re a big, physical team and we have to be able to play physically with them. We have a big emphasis on ball possession, especially around the breakdown and in their back line, which is very talented. … It comes down to how much they want it and how well we execute, because we’ll need to play a near-perfect game to beat them.”
Regardless of how this weekend goes, Ranslow is effusive in his praise of the team’s gains this fall.
“They should be very proud of how far they’ve come in essentially a turnaround season,” the coach concluded. “They played really hard and that’s something that you don’t find in every player. They were always ready for more, every single practice, and wanted to get better at any skill. We added things to our offense and defense, learned new techniques, changed positions with injuries, and they always took it running. They’ve earned the right to be where they are right now.”
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