The Southern Oregon Lady Ruggers took a tough loss Saturday Oct. 22 against Western
Oregon University in their season opener. The final score: WOU 76, SOU 0.
“We don’t really feel defeated,” said team Catalina Jarero. ”I just feel like it is a learning experience. Especially for our rookies. I think it went well.”
President of the club Alexis Barajas said, “every person on our team did an amazing job, especially all of our new players who have never played rugby before. They went right into contact without any hesitation.”
The Lady Ruggers had several possessions throughout the match where they drove the ball all the way to their opponents 22 meter line before giving up the ball.
“I am proud to call these girls my team,” said captain Jordan Bruyn. “The hard work they displayed on Saturday was absolutely powerful. We held our own from the kick off to the final whistle. I can not wait to see the improvement and growth we will make as a team”
“The biggest positive for the game would have to be that every try they scored on us they had to really work for,” said the coach, and founder of the women’s rugby club, Tiffany Reardon. “Somebody was always chasing after them. On Sunday that team is going to be hurting just as bad as we are, and that makes me happy.”
The fifth year of its existence, the women’s rugby club has gained over 10 new players this fall. Several of this year’s new rookies have already become starters with the club.
“It’s cool because they all knew when they were making mistakes. It’s all simple stuff they are going to fix,” said Jarero. “Now our practices are going to be better structured. Our team unity and how we click is going to improve dramatically.”
This is the first year the club has entered in the Cascade Collegiate Women’s Rugby Conference. In years past they have only scheduled friendly matches, which did not allow them any chance of postseason play.
Coach Tiffany Reardon told the team at the beginning of the season, “We have to make a decision as a club. We can keep playing friendlies, and keep on beating up some of the teams we can beat up. Or we can really challenge ourselves by playing the tough teams in our league and grow from that.”
The Lady Ruggers were scheduled to play a doubleheader last weekend against Western Washington University and Seattle University, but were forced to cancel due to dangerous travel conditions. They are scheduled to travel north next weekend for their match against Eastern Washington University on Saturday Oct. 29.
Earlier on Saturday morning Oct. 22 the SOU Men’s Rugby team won their match against Oregon Institute of Technology. The final score was 34-19.
