The Penn State Women's team won their 7th Collegiate National Championship this weekend in the all too familiar surroundings of Palo Alto, California with two tremendous performances!

The team showcased depth, tenacious defense, unmatched physicality, and tremendous work rate en route to their 46-15 semifinal victory over Women's Cougar Rugby (BYU), and 32-12 triumph in the Championship match against Stanford.

In the semifinal, the Penn State team was simply to much for "BYU" to handle. The Nittany Lion's aggressive defense consistently caught the cougars behind the gain line, neutralized their attacking threats, and had them on the back foot all day. That coupled with what clearly was one of the most dominating forward performances in the team's history, sealed their fate from the opening scrum (which was the first of many stolen by the PSU pack).

The final against Stanford, which was the 6th time these two foes have met in the Championship match, started very much like one would think a final between the two top collegiate teams in the country would. Both sides were taking their shots and looking for weaknesses, and it was Stanford who took a small lead (12-10) into the half. But through some great coaching, tremendous leadership from within the team, inspiration from some completely inappropriate Standford students nearby, and some final motivational words from Senior Lisa Henneman to bring it all together, the team could not wait for the second half to begin. (It should be noted that Lisa was ineligible to play, but her contributions and support of her teammates goes to further showcase the value of one of the main themes of the Penn State women's program which is that everyone plays a roll, and it takes every single member of the team to win a National Championship). The team took the field for the second half with smiles on their faces, and completely dominated the last 40 minutes. Scoring 4 unanswered trys, and allowing Stanford no points to claim the programs 7th National Championship.

Congratulations to each and every player on the roster for a job well done! Congratulations must also go out to the tremendous staff (Peter Steinberg, Chris Amoratis, Bernie Cantorna, John Swart, Brett Bissenger, Jim Mathias, Ko Basu, Caitlyn Singletary, Lance Connelly, John Flude, and of course Sumie Ichizaki) that had the team so well prepared for every challenge that awaited them!

Thanks to all the family, friends, and alumni who were able to make the trip to California to support the team, and special thanks to the family of senior Kayla Morisoli for their gracious hospitality and once again opening their beautiful home to the entire traveling party.

It was another tremendous year for the Penn State women's rugby team, and to a player they will tell you that it was one built on the foundation of the legacy of those who came before them!

The Penn State Rugby program will host it's 2012 Golf Tournament on Sunday June 10th on the Penn State Blue Golf Course.

In it's third year, this annual event is hoped to become one of the highlights of each year, providing alumni, family, and friends of Penn State Rugby with the opportunity to spend a beautiful summer day together, have A LOT of laughs, and provide the program with some much needed funding.

Participants, volunteers, sponsors, and prize donations are all welcomed and needed. Although the program has grown by leaps in bounds both on and off the pitch, the direct financial support for program operations from the University has not not changed in more than 10 years. With no indication that this will change in the near future, the program still depends upon player dues, team fundraisers, donations, sponsorships, and events like this to secure nearly 90% of it's annual operating budget needs.

With both our mens and womens teams once again competing in their respective National Championship Playoffs, financial support from events such as this are even more critical.

Won't you please come on back to Happy Valley, see some old friends, participate in this very worth while event, and help support Penn State Rugby.

See below for information about the event, to register to play, provide a sponsorship, or to donate prizes or just your time.

2012 Rugger Open Flyer .doc

2012 Rugger Open Registration form.doc

2012 Rugger Open Sponsorship Packages.doc

2012 Rugger Open Sponsor-Prize Donation Registration.doc

This spring has been an exciting time of growth for the Penn State Women's team. On March 31, the team traveled to West Chester University to play University of Maryland in the first round of MARFUs. With good offense, and forward domination in the scrum, Penn State finished with a 136-5 win. This great win lead the team to a game against Navy, a team that always challenges our defensive skills throughout the year. In this physical game on April 1, the defense was tested and the intensity of the team was evident through the entire game. Penn State finished the weekend as MARFU champs with a 32-5 win over Navy.

 

This past weekend, April 14-15, Penn State women traveled to King of Prussia to play in the Keystone Tournament. In the heat, mixed sides played 4 shortened games against various women's clubs, coming out 4-0 with only one try scored against all day. The depth of the team was exposed through the various combinations of players who were able to step out on the field and problem solve to work together as one. On Sunday, Penn State challenged Keystone, a women's club team with many Penn State alum and National team players. In this friendly but intense match, Penn State saw a glimpse of their ability to protect the fringe and use their fitness against a physical team. For the first time, Penn State came out with a win over Keystone.

 

At the end of the day it was the parents who made the weekend so successful by providing houses for the players to stay, wonderful meals after the games, and support throughout the weekend.

 

Next weekend, Penn State Women will head to Princeton to play them in the first round of playoffs, for Sweet 16s. Please come out to support the team as they continue to demonstrate their depth and growth over the year.

The Penn State Women travel Saturday to West Chester to participate in the 2012 MARFU Championships.  Saturday PSU faces Maryland at 2pm.  The other match on Saturday is between Navy and Virginia.

In a physically demanding game the Penn State Women lost to University of Wales - Institute of Cardiff 34-27.  UWIC are the most successful women's university side in Britain, winning 5 National Titles in a row before losing last year in the semis.  They played Loughborough on Monday in the National Semi-finals and won 65-0, so this was a great test for women's rugby in the US.

The Penn State team is now preparing for their match against University of Wales Institute of Cardiff (UWIC).  UWIC is one of the most famous sports universities in Britain and this match was arranged with the help of Alun Hardman, a former coach of the Penn State men.

The Penn State women lost 2 competitive games to Cardiff Quins on the first day of the tour. The team took the 45 minute bus drive from Swansea to Cardiff in a downpour, but arrived to beautiful sunshine. The sunshine held throught both games. The B side played against a very competitive U20 Cardiff Quins team who had 2 Welsh U20 players in the back line. The team started slowly and was down 12-0 at halftime. The second half was all Penn State but we could not get over the line and the game finished 12-0 to Cardiff. The A side kicked off and the game started fast and physical. In perfect conditions the Penn State team was a good match for the Cardiff Harlequins 1st who are top of the Welsh Premiership. The pace of the match was tremendous with both teams showing some great continuity. Half time the score was 10-5 to the Quins. Lots subs by both teams effected the continuity of the game in the second half but there were still moments of great play, highlighted by a Sadie Anderson 50m try that came from a turnover by Susan Smarto and a nice pass by Kasey Ferlic. The Quins scored 2 tries at the end and the final score was 32-17 to the Quins. The weather was amazing and the rugby was great!

The Penn State Women have arrived safely in Swansea. After an early start out of State College they traveled 30 hours and finished up at the YHA Hostel. The hostel is large and we have it all to ourselves! The players got changed and headed out to a local park to practice. It was great to see a local park that had 2 rugby pitches and 2 soccer pitches. By the time we got there the rugby pitches were used by several teams from the age of 5 through 16 so we had to practice on the unused soccer pitch. Wales is one of the most passionate rugby areas of the World and it is where rugby is more popular than soccer. In the evening the team had the option of going to a professional game. The local team, the Ospreys, we're playing the Glasgow Warriors and about half the team ended up going to the game. The warriors won 28-22. Today the team heads to Cardiff to play the Harlequins, the best club team in Wales. There will be a scrimmage for the B side followed by the A side match at 1245. Check here for the result.

The Penn State Women's team leave 3.30am on Thursday to Wales for the annual spring break trip to Europe. The team has never been based in Wales, a traditional hot bed of rugby, but they did play some games there in 2007 when the team was based across the English border in Bath.

On February 8^th Penn State rugby met at East Area Locker Room awaiting the start of a long journey to Las Vegas, NV. Traveling through the JFK airport, the men and women's team looked unified in their matching crest T's and backpacks. For the first time, the women's team sent a 12 person roster to compete in the sevens elite division. The roster included Sadie Anderson, Kyle Armstrong, Brie Barto, Catie Benson, Elena Cantorna, Jackie Giordano, Kasey Ferlic, Kate Flanagan, Margaret Leonard, Olivia Lindsey, Kelsey Harris, and Kellie Vetter.  They entered the elite women's bracket knowing that they would face challenges on the field, but overcoming the challenges one game at a time proved to be the success of the weekend.

On Thursday, the team played The Mighty Ruckers, Alder Sevens, and the Guelph Gryphons. Though not a try was scored, Penn State built good shape, and played a strong sevens defense. On Friday, they were defeated in the morning but won their second and last game of the weekend with a shut out, putting together all lessons learned and by continuously working for each other on the field.

On Friday and Saturday, the women's team along with parents, alumni, and other Penn State fans gathered on the sidelines to watch the men put up a good fight in a total of four games. Within the stadium, the cheering section for former Penn State player Deven Owsiany could be heard echoing as she took the field as hooker for team USA. The Penn State section went wild when Deven scored the first try for the USA, overcome with emotions of pride. The traveling team finished out the weekend by watching all the international men's teams compete in the stadium, watching the best of the best play rugby sevens, one of the fastest growing sports in the USA.

A special thanks to the alumni, who helped sponsor the trip and provided support on the sidelines all the way in Las Vegas. To the parents who showed their pride: the love for the team shows in the miles you travel, and the genuine care you have for every member of the club. The coaches helped make everything happen and led to a very successful and enjoyable trip out west, away from the bitter cold State College weather in the middle of February.