The South Shore Sirens are in a season of firsts. The Boston-area senior club is competing in its first official season as a member of New England’s Division III. The team played its first 15s game in mid-September against Amoskeag. And then last weekend, when the Sirens beat Seacoast 40-29, the team celebrated its first-ever regular-season win.
RELATED: USAR Women’s Club Update • Sept. 21-22 scores
The South Shore men’s team has been around for nearly two decades, and current Sirens head coach Paul Lenaghan used to be an assistant coach for the Anchors. A handful of women had been attending the men’s practices and Lenaghan would break off to lead them through some drills.
“The women always had the desire to form a team, but they just didn’t have the numbers,” Lenaghan said. “They’d attract a couple of players, but they’d come to the nonverbal conclusion that nothing was really set up. ‘We don’t really have a coach, just this one guy from the men’s team who helps us.’ Four, five, six players slipped through the net.”
Today’s captains, Kelly Kryzak and Linda Shirley, and founding members like Vikki Thomas, Sarah Berry, Franki Mullen, Matti Reilly, Vanessa McCoy and Alex Profetto realized they needed to make a push for legitimacy.
“They went to the club: We’re disjointed because we don’t have stability and structure,” Lenaghan recounted. “If we get girls, we can’t keep them.”
So began the search for a head coach, and Lenaghan expressed interest after watching the women play during a North Shore vs. South Shore mini-tournament in June. The day consisted of men’s A and B sides’, old boys’ and women’s games. Once Lenaghan signed on full-time, the players had more confidence in recruiting potential teammates, and although the roster sits at a tenuous 17 today, it was enough to join NERFU’s DIII.
“The club has been unbelievably supportive of them; completely behind them. They’re giving these girls what they deserve,” Lenaghan said of the women’s team launch. “It’s all new equipment, practice balls and training gear, brand new jerseys, water bottles, game balls. They’re really behind them and it’s creating a great atmosphere.”
There are six teams in NERFU’s DIII: Amoskeag (N.H.), North Shore (Mass.), Rutland (Vt.), Seacoast (N.H.), South Shore (Mass.) and Upper Valley (N.H.). The team’s first game occurred on Sept. 14, and Amoskeag ran away with the 59-7 victory.
“We got hammered,” Lenaghan said. “They had two track-and-field champs in the 13 and 15 jerseys, and they ran riot.
“What gave me heart: The referee asked me to blow it up 20 minutes before the end of the game. ‘No way! They’ll kill me. They haven’t slept all week,’” the coach said of the team’s anticipation for its first game. “After the game, the ref said, ‘You took a licking but I never saw them step backward, not once.’ And that’s all I needed to hear.”
That resiliency showed itself during the subsequent week of training and South Shore retook the pitch last Saturday to face Seacoast. South Shore went up by two tries, but then Seacoast rallied with three-straight scores. The home side spent the better portion of the second half chasing down the lead, but the effort paid off. South Shore took a two-point lead with 11 minutes to go and pushed out the victory to 40-29.
Lenaghan reveled in the final-whistle celebrations, and was elated to see those original players enjoy the fruits of their labor.
“I want to provide a good environment that introduces them to the fun part of rugby,” Lenaghan said of his goals for the team. “The camaraderie in rugby is life-changing, and I can already see it happening for them.”
South Shore has a bye week this round and then finishes out its regular season on three consecutive weekends by Oct. 19. For more info, click here.