Women’s rugby team finishes season on the road

The UW-River Falls women's rugby team is traveling to St. Cloud, Minn., this weekend to take part in one of the biggest and most well-known rugby tournaments in the region.

The members of the club team play two separate seasons during the school year. In the fall, the women play an official season to win goals and get a place in the playoffs.

During the unofficial spring season, the team plays in a number of tournaments which take place almost every weekend. While tournaments are prominent, single games are not entirely uncommon either.

Junior Abby Piette said this spring has been one of the best for the team throughout its entire history.

"We're just playing well together," Piette said. "We just have really good continuity."

While the team does have good chemistry this semester, there is one issue junior Katherine LaPorte mentioned.

"We've had a tough semester with recruiting," she said. "We've only had a couple of girls that came out stay. We used to get a lot of people to come by hanging up posters in Rodli and the Student Center, but now we can't do that."

Back in March, the rugby team traveled to Nebraska to take part in a huge tournament, making it to the semifinals for the first time. The semifinal appearance gave the team an opportunity to bring a trophy back home to River Falls.

"I wasn't there, but I heard we played great," LaPorte said.

The women hosted Winona April 14 at home and only lost by a tri. Winona is usually one of the best teams in the area and the women were very pleased with their performance following the game.

Junior Amanda Prochazka has been playing rugby for River Falls for thre years and is pleased with this season.

"We have held our own against every team and have not been blown away yet," she said. "Although we have been having problems with numbers at our games, our girls have been playing hard and learning fast.

This weekend, the women will travel to participate in the All Saints Tournament with teams from all over Minnesota, Wisconsin and Canada participating.

"It's the biggest tournament we play in by far," LaPorte said. "Every big team comes."

The team usually plays three games during the two-day period. LaPorte said they usually play the University of Minnesota-Duluth, the University of Minnesota and Winona. However, this season some team members said they are hoping the brackets will be broken up a little more evenly depending on skill level. River Falls is looking to win one or two of the games in St. Cloud.

"Our goals are obviously going to depend on our bracket," LaPorte said. "We would be better off if they were more even."