William & Mary College underwent a reckoning this spring, as the DII Capital conference runner-up evaluated its competitive options for the spring post-season. The Virginia team was preparing for a run at the USA Rugby DII Spring College Championship, but then unforeseen circumstances – both internally and externally – forced the team to withdraw from playoff consideration. The redirection, however, is not without its positives.
William & Mary advanced to the 2019 spring playoffs, fell three points short of Coastal Carolina in the Round of 16, and then beat Capital mate George Washington the following day in the consolation round. The team returned to the fall 2019 season with a ton of enthusiasm, even after 15 seniors graduated. Sophomore Avery Freeman stepped up as forward captain, and senior Saylor Zechman captained the backs.
“Avery looks like a back – and she gets called out for that – but plays like a forward,” William & Mary president Carter Helmandollar praised the loose forward. ”She’s been one of our key players just because of her sheer athleticism and being able to dominate as far as pushing through the defense and just pushing through the whole game.
“Saylor has always been a key person and has become more of a leader these past two semester as grads have moved on,” the president continued. “She’s one of a few seniors on the team, and it’s interesting to watch her take that on because she hasn’t necessarily had that leadership role before.”
Despite the smaller recruitment class, Tribe marched through the Capital league season undefeated and advanced to the conference final four in November. After beating Towson 34-17 in the Saturday semifinals, William & Mary faced Salisbury in the Sunday title match.
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“That is not a game we look at fondly,” Helmandollar reflected on the conference final. “Rugby is an interesting game for tournaments. One game puts you on your ass for 3-4 days, and two games in a weekend is not fun. I don’t know another sport that does that. Salisbury is a great team, so we were fighting against fitness and injuries, and confronted with a very good, technical team.”
Salisbury won the conference title 79-3.
“It was a blow,” Helmandollar said. “That Salisbury game hit us a little more than I realized in the moment. Coming out of that game, we got a lot of serious injuries to key players. … In the long term, I’m not worried [about the outcome’s effect]. It will help us prepare for the rematch and how we approach the game.”
The short-term effect impacted numbers, as the team didn’t recover all of its injuries as well as other teammates who, for a multitude of reasons, didn’t return for the spring. In late February, William & Mary fielded just 15 players in a friendly against the University of Maryland. The squad was pleased with its flexibility and positivity, but doubts arose as to whether the team could – healthily – survive those doubleheader playoff weekends.
And then William & Mary was informed that the spring playoffs were reorganizing, and instead of receiving an at-large berth to the Round of 16 – like last year – it would have to win a play-in game on the road in order to participate in the spring quarterfinals. The team convened for a vote, weighed its numbers and budget against the more involved schedule, and opted to withdraw from the post-season.
Although that decision brought disappointment, the executive board was quick to inject new meaning into the spring season. There is a focus on growth and recruitment, and new competitive options are being explored.
“It was a reality check: Every player is valuable and needs to be treated as such because they can go at any time,” said Helmandollar, a sophomore who is driving the younger classes into leadership positions. “It’s better for us to take a step back and re-evaluate, but there is a lot of optimism around the players we do have. Our issues aren’t with quality.”
Helmandollar pointed to players like Quinn Graves, the acting flyhalf, who has been doing a lot more to get involved and injects more athleticism and intensity onto the pitch.
Jemima Grow and Yinka Koso-Thomas also drew praise as young players who excite their teammates as they pump up the back attack.
“Since we don’t have a lot of seniors, leadership is coming from other places. It’s been a big transition this semester, but us sophomores and freshmen have taken on a lot of responsibility, compared to what we saw before that,” Helmandollar said. “It’s fun to see the rookies from the fall do well, but I do feel bad that they have to take up the slack. Fortunately they’ve risen to the task.”
William & Mary will play 15s friendlies against Mary Washington, Catholic University and Old Dominion, but is now looking at other playing opportunities.
“Our coach is gunning for us to do 7s tournaments, because that was one of our strengths,” Helmandollar said. “Sevens might be a fun place to cultivate some things because it’s something our team always enjoyed and we have the numbers for it.
“And hopefully we add some bigger players,” the front row said of unit goals. “Our team has suddenly shrunken in size; we’ve turned into a backs team. I would like to see some forward-sized recruits. Maryland is not large and they definitely had us in size; ODU will be big, too.”
Although William & Mary was blind-sided by some shortcomings this spring, the leaders are using this opportunity to set new precedents for the future of the club.
“I’m really excited for the future as far as what we’ll be able to accomplish once we’ve found our footing and make goals clearer to ourselves,” Helmandollar concluded. “We need to establish what we want to do and be, and we’re right on edge of being something very nice.”
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