Ruggers retain rep as school's top sport club
By: Antonia Nunes
Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: Sports
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Last spring the team crushed Stanford in a huge 25-5 upset. Stanford went on to become runner-up in the national championship, and Chico's big win made news.
"It was a huge deal, and it was heard all across the nation in the rugby world when we beat Stanford," said club president Ashley Bocast.
This past summer, several of the team's members made it on the U.S. under-23 team and toured New Zealand.
What makes these accomplishments so astonishing is that each season's freshmen typically know next to nothing about rugby when they join, said Bocast.
This season the team lost about 10 players, most of them starters, she said. The players "were terrified at first" because they didn't have many returners.
Luckily the team had a big recruiting year. Not only does it have close to 17 rookies, it has newcomers who can play well and love the game, Bocast said.
Some women start playing rugby because it is empowering to be able to play a full contact, no-holds-barred game that can sometimes get you in trouble in other sports, Bocast said.
"I played sports my whole life and all it took was for me to hit one girl and I was hooked," she said.
For freshman Caitlin Fontana, being a rookie on the team means stepping on to the field with focus and determination, she said.
"Rugby's a sport that I absolutely knew nothing about before I started playing," Fontana said.
Although Fontana had older brothers who played rugby and wrestled, and was "pretty used to taking a hit," the only other sports she played were volleyball and soccer.
Last weekend Fontana and her fellow freshmen helped the team go 4-0 in the Santa Cruz Slugfest tournament. The Wildcats easily defeated all of their opponents and crushed Humboldt State 34-5 in the championship game.
Alex Triantafyllou, one of two head coaches, said there can be some "real awkward moments" on the field when coaching a full-contact women's sport. But he wants to show players it's "OK to go out and knock it around a little bit," he said.
Women's rugby is one of three third-tier sport clubs on campus and the only women's club to make the ranking. To be a third-tier sport requires a higher level of commitment and accomplishment and because of this the team generally gets priority with practice times and financing, said recreational sports coordinator Mary Wallmark.
Out of all the club sports, the women's rugby team is the only one that has won a Division I national championship, Wallmark said. The team is highly accomplished but still does not have a following other than friends and family, she said.
Although she hears team members say they do not get recognized enough, they're still very focused and competitive, Wallmark said.
"They are not arguing with each other over what their uniforms should look like," she said. "They are out there to play the game."
Antonia Nunes can be reached at anunes@theorion.com
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