Not even Hurricane Ivan could hold back the women's rugby team.
Officially called the Tufts Women's Rugby Football Club (TURFC), the squad of 21 girls shut out WPI 10-0 this past Saturday, battling both the elements and the bigger WPI players in its season-opening scrimmage on Cousens Field.
"We controlled the ball and the flow of the game and we were a much stronger team than them, even though their players were bigger than us," junior forward Daniela Mauro said.
The squad was led by its overpowering defense, which was able to control the pace of play and clear the ball quickly to the forwards while the WPI defense was out of position.
"We were always ready for them to attack," Mauro said. "And we did a good job of rucking over the ball so our [forwards] could get it and run plays"
The out-of-conference win put the team on the right track to achieving its overall goal this season: making the national tournament. Last season, TURFC played in a qualifying game to go to nationals, but it fell to archrival Providence College, ending the season and the hopes of playing for the Rugby National title.
However, the squad is back this year seemingly stronger and deeper than last season but still with the same goal in mind: to make Nationals. Despite the team losing a crop of 2004 seniors that included the team's star player, Nicole Pang, Mauro is confident it will be able to bounce back and remain competitive.
"Although we graduated one of our best players, I feel like we have a solid team that can definitely make the playoffs and even the nationals," she said. "In addition to our returners, we have a great group of rookies to help us out if we need them."
The scrimmage against WPI however, because it was non-conference, was just a warm-up to the tough competition the team will face when the conference season starts this weekend. The team will be pitted in its opener at home against Northeastern on Saturday.
Rugby, which is quickly gaining popularity among colleges around the country, is a combination of football and soccer. Fifteen players line up on the field at once, including forwards who play defense and backs who play offense. The object is to run the ball into the end zone and tap it on the ground, the equivalent of a touchdown in football. However, the score is worth five points, and the ensuing short kick through the uprights, if completed, tacks on two more.
The only other way to score is if you kick the ball through the uprights on a penalty, which akin to football's field goal, is worth three points.
The ball can be advanced down the field in a number ways. A player can punt it down to the other end in the hopes that a teammate will either catch it or beat the opposition to the ball, she can run with it, or she can throw it. However, the player can only throw the ball backwards to a teammate, not forward.
The team plays in the New England Rugby Football Union, which consists of college teams from all around the northeast. After Northeastern on Saturday, TURFC will face off against the likes of Southern Conn., Providence, Stonehill, and Wellesley. After the regular season, the team plays in the conference playoffs, where the schools fight for a spot to go to the Northeast Rugby Union Regional Tournament, with the hopes of making it one step further to Nationals.
"I think we will do really well and definitely make the playoffs," Mauro said. "Providence is our biggest challenge, and we almost beat them last year, so we will definitely give them a run this year come playoff time."
