The MA Sorensen Award narrowed its field of 2019-20 nominees to 20 players, and individual fans and collective teams are called upon to vote for their top women’s collegiate player of the school year. The following are brief introductions into the players (TRB has interviews scheduled with many of the following):
Sui A’au – Central WashingtonDestiny Arena – LindenwoodAlisa Baker – BYUCassidy Bargell – HarvardEmily Briggs – BYUCaring De Freitas – LindenwoodAlex DiMarco – ArmyKaylee Eskeli – Air ForceGiovanna Ferguson-Lewis – Army
Denecia Fernandes – CalJessica Gentle – WyomingBrogan Mior – HarvardOlivia Ortiz – DavenportNika Paogofie-Buyten – LindenwoodAriana Ramsey – DartmouthSpiff Sedrick – LifeSarah Skinner – NavySamantha Sullivan – ArmyJuah Toe – West ChesterAdrienne Yoder – Air Force
The caveat this year is that COVID-19 halted all rugby activity on March 12, and so spring-oriented teams, notably the DI spring championship-vying programs, are at a bit of a disadvantage, since the regional and seasonal playoffs would have highlighted players on a larger scale. The DI Elite teams, too, had their national championship cancelled, but generally, those player pools contain known entities who are a bit easier to single out for awards like these. The point, however, is that spring 2020 was a breakout season for many players, and we’ll miss that.
EAGLES + POOL
Olivia Ortiz spent her last fall with DI Davenport University, which lost to Navy at the quarterfinal round of the fall championship, but the senior scrumhalf did miss some fixtures that conflicted with Women’s National Team assemblies. Ortiz is talented, but it’s her stout and sturdy defense in and around the breakdown that TRB prizes. She doesn’t buckle when international forwards eye her for a mismatch, and it’s life-giving to watch her square up against those challenges.
Central Washington’s Sui A’au is also a capped 15s Eagle and the Wildcats’ highest-profile player. The senior does damage from the centers and scored tries in all of CWU’s important, gauging matches this school year: two against Life, one against the Seattle Saracens, and one against Lindenwood. A’au has been power incarnate since day one as a freshman and provided consistent go-forward for a program that worked through some changes during her four years.
Destiny Arena is uncapped but one of two (Ortiz being the other) collegians in the 2020 USA 15s Performance Squad. The Fallbrook alumna has anchored the front row for two-time DI Elite National Champion Lindenwood University for years and is equally comfortable pulling away from the pack and inserting into the back line for some open-field action.
Many nominees are in the larger USA 15s and 7s pools, but Spiff Sedrick (Life) and Cassidy Bargell (Harvard) are regular fixtures at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center. They both featured for the USA Falcons at the LAI 7s and looked great. Senior Sedrick captains Life’s fantastic back line, which was the Running Eagles’ strength this year. Her line-breaks don’t involve goose steps or massive fends, but come through smart lines and with a slick stride. She’s fast and employs that speed on defense and chase-down tackles, and she serenely makes everyone around her better.
Unlike Sedrick and DI Elite Life, Harvard scrumhalf Bargell completed her 15s season in the fall, which culminated in the 2019 NIRA DI National Championship. Bargell is a solid distributor and manager, but as one might suspect from her many years in the USA Falcons system, she’s an attacking threat just waiting to burst through lazy channel defense. And she does, with great success. With a little more room on the 7s pitch, Bargell is explosive and fast.
NIRA NOTABLES
In addition to Harvard’s Bargell, the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) has six representatives on the nominees list. DI runner-up Army West Point is tied with Lindenwood with three athletes: sophomore flyhalf Alex DiMarco, senior No. 8 Gio Ferguson-Lewis and senior fullback Sam Sullivan. All three represent tenets that make the Black Knights so dangerous. Ferguson-Lewis joined Army just as the program was starting to attract real rugby talent that came through the USA pathway. The New Yorker is unforgivably tough, a work horse in tight, and always makes those north-south meters to get the team moving forward. She’s been on this list before, and for good reason.
Sullivan is also a well known entity and quality finisher. She routinely leads the squad in points scored and has been honing her game at Chula Vista. She’s everything you want in a back three – fast and reliable, work-hungry and plants that try-saving tackle when the time calls for it. DiMarco is one of the youngest nominees on the list but joined Army with a ton of experience and immediately worked into the starting line. DiMarco is calm, has a high rugby IQ, and did an excellent job of deploying a smart kicking game against Harvard in the DI final. The championship was played in terrible conditions, and DiMarco really impressed with her demeanor.
The youngest player on the list, however, is Harvard’s Brogan Mior, and the Canadian freshman did it all during the NIRA final. During the made a name for herself as a hard-carrying center, but during the final, she showcased how prevalent she is around the pitch. From kicking the lead-changing penalty against Army, to winning a 2-on-1 on defense and forcing a turnover, to setting up teammates for scoring opportunities. MVP stuff.
Dartmouth wasn’t able to defend its 2018 DI national championship but sophomore wing Ariana Ramsey put in another stellar season. The All-American led the team in tries scored (10) and finished second in points (50). She has great pull-away speed and is not the type of wing who gets pushed into touch or muscled out of the tackle.
Juah Toe stood out during West Chester’s DII national championship campaign, but the senior pack captain and flanker has been at the epicenter of the Golden Rams’ rise to the title. Head coach Tony DeRemer lauded the work and enthusiasm that Toe pumped into the squad, and that was on display as West Chester rallied from a 14-0 halftime deficit against Brown to win the DII title 15-14. Toe is strength in contact and did a lot of hard work in the breakdowns to overturn and frustrate Brown’s ball, and the reward was a trophy.
UNFORGETTABLE FALL
USA Rugby’s DI Fall Championship was a fantastic game between two service academies. On one hand was the reigning champion, Air Force, which had trampled the competition en route to the final and had some questions about how it would handle stiffer competition. On the other side was dark horse Navy, which burst onto the scene in fall 2019 and made its very first title play. The solid competition brought the best out of the players.
Air Force prevailed, and No. 8 Kaylee Eskeli and insider center Adrienne Yoder were very influential in that outcome. Eskeli spent three years on the wing and then requested a move to the forwards, just to mix it up. She was a revelation. She obviously brought pace and vision to the forward attack but also contributed mightily to Air Force’s devastating ground game. Yoder was also very good about knowing when to poach and when to drive the opposition off the ball, and set the tone for an aggressive defense that produces offense. With ball in hand, Yoder knows how to pierce the defense and finish, and led the team with 27 tries in the fall.
Navy No. 8 Sarah Skinner emerged from that game and was quickly called into the USA 15s regional training fold. She is tall and rangy, and never goes to ground easily or with one tackler, and she also very plucky over the ball. She also logged her share of breakaways and incited panic in the defense.
Wyoming’s Jessica Gentle was also plucked out of the fall and recently received high marks from her performance at a USA Rugby 15s regional training camp. The 23-year-old Australian played soccer for Wyoming and with one more year of eligibility, played rugby in the fall. She scored an obscene 49 tries and was huge in getting Wyoming to the playoffs. Unfortunately she missed the fall quarterfinal against Minnesota (a 34-7 loss) but returned the next day to score seven tries against Indiana.
LINDENWOOD WELL REPPED
Three DI Elite players are covered in the USA pool player, and Lindenwood received another two representatives in Caring De Freitas and Nika Paogofie-Buyten. The former is a Venezuela 7s player and is absolutely devastating from fullback. She runs hard-carving routes through defenses and is just difficult to get a hand on, and competes with the calmness and confidence of an internationally tested athlete. Paogofie-Buyten has been the face of the Lindenwood forwards for years but the No. 8 has 7s sensibilities in that she is very comfortable manipulating defenses in open space and offloading to support to keep that overwhelming attack in motion. The senior loose forward is also a great voice, one that can always be heard encouraging teammates and keeping the tempo in check.
SPRING DI
Although USA Rugby’s DI Spring Championship didn’t have a chance to play out, the odds favored BYU for a repeat title. The Cougars joined the Pacific Desert league this year and posted seven shutouts to complete its regular season. Twenty-three-year-old prop Emily Briggs was just as prevalent as she was in the 2019 final (she was TRB’s choice for MVP). She fortified BYU’s front row and dominant scrum, but reprised her role as a fast moving, hard-charging ballcarrier who can score (five this spring) from in close or out wide after hustling down field in support. Senior wing Alisa Baker is also someone who gives a little more than what’s expected of her position. Yes, she’s fast, elusive and scores tries (10 this spring), but she’s also a key element of BYU’s kick-and-chase game, and gathers well on the run and continues that fast-moving, linking attack along the sideline with confidence.
Cal’s Fernandes / Photo: Jackie Finlan / TRB
After years of finishing outside of the top-three in the DI Pacific Mountain West, Cal emerged as a title contender this season. A hub of solid senior leadership got the Golden Bears into position for this rebound, and sophomore wing Denecia Fernandes represents the fire that will keep the team improving. Defenses panic when the ball finds Fernandes’ hands, and with good reason, because she knows how to get through, past and around tackles. She won MVP for the conference 7s championship in the fall as well.