Women's Rugby: 36-7

After dropping their first game of the season to John Carroll University, the women's rugby team was determined not to allow any repeats when they hosted Ohio Northern University this past Saturday.

The Rhino Ruggers answered with their first victory of the season, a commanding 36-7 victory. The victory was the team's largest in a year according to senior Tara Ikenouye

The Rhino Ruggers came into Saturday's game well prepared, and it showed as they dominated Ohio Northern all the way through. The team drew support from several players including senior Tina Barksdale, a three-year veteran of the team, who scored on two tries.

"Our star, Tina Barksdale...she was just absolutely amazing going into the ruck and scoring," sophomore Blair Winter said. "She went into the ruck with uncontrollable power."

Ikenouye and senior Becca Barnes also contributed, as they scored one try each, giving the Rhino Ruggers all the edge they would need over Ohio Northern, whose only points came off of a fluke break-away play.

Other scorers included sophomores Brenna Berman, who scored on one try and Jen Kew, the team's kicker, who scored on three out of the four kicks taken after each try.

The inexperienced Ohio Northern teams loss was attributed to their poor overall performance, which seemed to include a fear of the players running up the field and instead saw them running along the sidelines. They also performed poorly on scrum-downs and rarely attempted to tackle any of the Rhino Ruggers. Perhaps the biggest factor that contributed to their loss, was the fact that most of the team was new and inexperienced.

While the Rhino Ruggers admittedly were not at their best either, they were able to function strongly as a team and improve on some of their game techniques.

One improvement during the game saw the teams line backers performance improve, whoch is something that had caused them to lose their first game.

Throughout the game, the Rhino Ruggers dominated in scrum-downs, rucks and mauls.

"We killed them," Barksdale said.

Also, the Rhino Ruggers were able to use all of their players throughout the game, thus giving the rookies a chance to hold their own.

Returning sophomore Vanya Hollis said, "we were excited, totally excited that we had won."

Speaking on the team and their future Ikenouye said, "the season ahead looks positive and the team should win most of its games."

Saturday, the team will travel to a rematch with John Carroll and will also face Kent State University.

Gotcha: A Rhino Rugger is tackled by two Ohio Northern players. The Ruggers won 36-7. (photo by John Matney)