All photos: Lindsay Eisenhart
The Morris Lions are used to being on the road. With no local, in-state competition, the northern New Jersey team traditionally spends the spring traveling to regional tournaments and arranging games during other states’ bye weeks. But traveling in and out of The Garden State during Covid-19 brings many parameters, making last Sunday’s trip to Maryland, and the two 15s wins that followed, a special outing.
Gene Caulfield left the U18 head coach post in November 2020, and Bill Dobbs stepped up as his replacement. Dobbs had formed the Morris girls’ U14 program and had been assisting the high school team the last two years.
Photo: Lindsay Eisenhart
“Gene kept everyone practicing until then, which definitely helped,” Dobbs said of player engagement. “When I took over in November, I told the team that we’d practice for as long as they wanted to, but then we got into December, and the weather’s getting colder. I asked them if they wanted to stop training, and they said, ‘Please don’t stop. We have nothing else to do.’”
Numbers held up and the roster includes approximately 25 active players.
“They are an incredible group of girls. They include everyone in and look after each other,” Dobbs surveyed the squad. “They’re looking after the younger ones, too; we have a few freshmen and sophomores who are new. It’s just the way they are. Maybe that’s how every team operates but they’re special.”
Photo: Lindsay Eisenhart
Leadership sets the tone. Senior captain Emma Gamboa, who will become Morris’ second Army West Point cadet after Molly Murtagh, is a fantastic role model and does work from scrumhalf. Gamboa connects with the other senior captain, Emma Morino, at scrumhalf, and they make for a fantastic duo in the middle of the pitch. Senior Brenna Milligan, who committed to Queens University of Charlotte, is the picture of versatility, moving from the centers to flanker and now No. 8, a position that is normally held by Neasa McLaughlin (who is heading back to the Rhinos Rugby Academy in California). Otherwise, Sophia Loosemore keeps the pack on track.
Photo: Lindsay Eisenhart
The Lions were ready to funnel all of that training onto the pitch, but New Jersey’s Covid-19 restrictions made a difficult scheduling scenario even more complicated.
“So we played our first game against Doylestown two weeks ago [March 28] but we had other games scheduled before that that had to be cancelled,” Dobbs said. “Unfortunately New Jersey had a sports travel ban where we couldn’t leave the state or host out-of-state teams. So we had to wait for that to be lifted.
“Now, we can travel and play,” Dobbs said of the new protocols. “But if we go outside of New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut or Delaware for more than 24 hours and you’re not vaccinated, then you have to quarantine for 14 days when you return.”
Photo: Lindsay Eisenhart
So when an opportunity to play two 15s games in West Carroll, Md., arose, Morris spent Saturday night in Gettysburg, Pa., then drove to Maryland for game day and made it home before the 24-hour time limit expired.
The Morris U14s played 7s and the U18s got games against the Maryland Exiles and West Carroll Marauders. When the regular season resumes, those two teams will compete in the Chesapeake Rugby Conference.
Photo: Lindsay Eisenhart
“We knew Maryland was a younger, newer team, so we started all of our newer players with a mix of the regular players,” Dobbs said of the first match. “[The Exiles’] tackling was great and they were hard hitting. They looked like they were learning the game and will be a force. I was very happy with how we played, especially since it was some players’ first game ever. A lot of them were unsure of themselves but they stepped up and were tackling and passing well.
Morris won the opener 31-5 and got its tries through Milligan, Gamboa, Monrad, Alissa Eisenhart and Molly McPherson. Leila Garlarza and Eisenhart added the conversions.
“In the second game, we played more of a first team,” the coach said of the lineup that faced West Carroll. “West Carroll has a team heading in the right direction, without a doubt. But again, we played well. The girls were tackling great, the passing was good, and the ball was moving all over the field. I was happy, but we have to work on some things, especially offsides.”
Chaney Fisher scored three tries in a 27-0 win against the Marauders, while Gamboa and and Kaleigh Ahern also dotted down.
Photo: Lindsay Eisenhart
Watch for freshman Leila Galarza, who came up through the flag and U14 teams. She has the makings of a stellar flyhalf, “whether she likes it or not,” Dobbs laughed.
“Senior Emilia Monrad stood out,” Dobbs said of the second row. “The last time she played 15s was when she was a sophomore, and she was pretty quiet then. Now she’s a senior and very vocal on the team, in a nice way. She stepped up her game. She scored a try – one that two years ago, she wouldn’t have gotten. She kept pushing, pushing, pushing to get over the line.
Photo: Lindsay Eisenhart
“Sydney Sibilia is another one,” the coach commended the flanker “She played 2-3 minutes in our last 15s games before Covid hit, and it was the first and only time she played. … She came out and she is a night-and-day player. Running hard, tackling everything, just so much fun to watch.”
Dobbs explained that everyone looked much better than the last time Morris was playing regular 15s. That getting back on the field was like, “unleashing the beast in all of them,” he said.
Photo: Lindsay Eisenhart
The rest of the season is unknown. The April 18 match against North Bay has been postponed and will hopefully be rescheduled. There is no Girls High School Club National Tournament, which Morris attends regularly. There is the possibility for a trip to Raleigh, but New Jersey’s travel restrictions would need to adjust further for that to go through. In the meantime, Dobbs is emailing teams from the Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Maryland every day for competition, and the coaching staff has convinced him to consider hosting an end-of-season 15s tournament that would also serve as a collegiate showcase.
“It definitely takes a toll but they are rolling with it,” Dobbs said of the players coping with an uncertain season. “We’ve told them that we’ll try to get them as many games as we can, and we’ll continue practicing. If we don’t have a game Sunday then we’ll practice Saturday, so it’s always three days/week no matter what. And when our upcoming game got cancelled, I started talking to the Morris women’s coach, and we’ll probably do a joint practice, just to mix it up.”
For more information on the Morris Lions, visit https://morrisrugby.teamsnapsites.com/u18-girls/.