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David Mai | Phoenix Staff

Genna Robbins fights her way forward despite literally having a defender on her back.

BY MELINDA PETRE

In print | Published April 24, 2008 — Updated April 28, 2008 00:32

Swarthmore women’s rugby is in the midst of another high-energy and fulfilling season this spring. The team began its second season of the year on a high note with an impromptu scrimmage against the Bryn Mawr-Haverford team, followed shortly by another against the Unionville High School team in March. While the latter was a great practice game (and victory) for Swat, it was a learning experience for the high school team. The game served to “show [the young players] what college rugby was all about and sort of encourage them to continue playing,” Co-Captain Karen Minyety ’08 said.

In another unorthodox scrimmage, Swat continued their preseason by teaming up with Lebanon Valley College to scrimmage against the Harrisburg Harlots, a women’s club team from Harrisburg, Pa. “This was a ‘fun match’ where we mixed things up and learned a lot from them,” Lauren Kluz-Wisniewski ’08 said.

The games kicked off with a tri-match against Muhlenberg College and Lehigh University, where Swat handily defeated the Mules yet lost a close contest to Lehigh. “Lehigh was a tough loss, because we were pretty evenly matched — although in my opinion, we were the better team. Unfortunately, we had already played Muhlenberg so our fatigue from the first game came through in the second game. Regardless of this, we worked well as a team, there was lots of communication on the field, we were rucking well, winning our lineouts and contesting the scrums. I couldn’t ask more of our team,” Minyety said.

Rugby has been fortunate this spring because, as it is the team’s non-league season, it has a considerable amount of flexibility in choosing the teams it plays. As a result, they were able to take on Rutgers University, a Division I team, fresh off its victory over Princeton University, a former Division I Champion.

Although this was a loss for the Garnet, the team took pride in their performance: “The best moment of this season [so far] was playing Rutgers. We played a great game against a really tough team and the girls really stepped it up and gave it their all,” Co-Captain Maria Mello ’08 said.

“We had to step up our level of play to fend them off and that was why it was challenging, but also the best rugby we played,” she added.

“It wasn’t an even match, but we played the best we’ve played all season,” Minyety said.

To Kluz-Wisniewski, another memorable moment of the season occurred when senior Co-Captain Karen Minyety got sent off the field with a yellow card. “She’s one of the most mild-mannered people I know, but she looked ready to kill the referee,” she explained.

This past Saturday, Swat took on Millersville University. While it was a close contest, Swat suffered from injuries sustained during the game. “We were down on their try line for most of the second half, really dominating them in scrums, but we just weren’t able to capitalize on field possession,” Kluz-Wisniewski said.

Rugby has called on their rookies often this season. “In other years, we’ve had A side games and B side games where rookies play the latter to get more acquainted with the game but our rookies, whether they realize or not, have held their own against people who have played for three or four years,” Minyety said.

“The rookies have been amazing this whole year. All of them have really improved and added a lot to the team. I hope they continue to play rugby because they really have added a new dynamic to the team,” Mello added.

“They take instructions really well, and are always looking to learn more and improve more,” Kluz-Wisniewski said.

Women’s rugby faces Ursinus College this weekend for their traditional “Prom Dress” Rugby game. Instead of the traditional uniform, the teams will sport former prom dresses acquired from thrift stores. “We’ve cultivated a friendship with Ursinus and couldn’t be more excited to play prom dress rugby with them this weekend,” Minyety said.

Additionally, the alumni return on May 3 for what the team expects to be a battle. “We always get crushed by the alumni but it’s always fun to see people who we’ve played with suddenly become our opposition,” Minyety said.

“The alums that come back are the serious athletes, the ones who still play on club teams,” added Kluz-Wisniewski.

Women’s rugby will bid farewell to ten seniors this year: Karen Minyety, Maria Mello, Lauren Kluz-Wisniewski, Genna Robbins, Dahlia Perez, Anna Kastner, Jessica Cunningham, Lauren Irizarry, Leah Handel and Molly Piels. These seniors have contributed on and off the field and will be greatly missed. “I had a fantastic four years with my rugby team and I have enjoyed every moment with them and I love them dearly. Even though our season seems like it was bad because of all our loses, we still played a good level of rugby and that makes me proud of the team I am on,” Mello said.

As for next year, “We’re losing ten seniors this year, which means we’re going to have a very young team next year, but we’re excited for the challenge, and I’m confident that we can step up our game,” Marina Isakowitz ’09 said.

“There are some great juniors who are going to be stepping into leadership positions, and hopefully we’ll have a good recruiting season, but it’ll definitely be a semester of building the team,” Kluz-Wisniewski said.

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