The UW-Platteville Women’s Rugby Club traveled to Whitewater on April 10 to compete in the Ruck the Dub tournament. They went 2-1 on the weekend in a tournament loaded with Wisconsin teams, including UW-W, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Stout and UW-Oshkosh.

The women ruggers came out with confidence at their opening match of Ruck the Dub. In their first game of the day the UW-P women squared off against UW-Stout in a matchup of 12-on-12 and defeated them soundly 41-0.

“It was a good team tournament,” said Bryn Callen, junior criminal justice major.

“Forwards and backs were scoring and we are starting off more aggressive every time we take the field.”

In their second game of the tournament the UW-P women defeated a very speedy UW-O team 17-0, with the UW-P defense coming up big in key situations.

“It was a close game, we just hung in there. They came close to scoring, but our defense played their quickness well,” said Emily Kern, junior animal science major.

The UW-P women had to regroup hastily after their second match in preparation for UW-EC. Fresh off a win against UW-O on the artificial turf of Perkins Stadium, the women had 10 minutes until their championship match.

The women played UW-EC tough and despite scoring late in the second half, dropped the championship game 17-5. Both Callen and Kern were excited about the dramatic improvement from last week’s Balls out Brawl loss to UW-EC in Platteville.

Team captain Callen hopes to continue to teach the young UW-P players this week in practice. Players such as Chelsie Willis, fresman physical education major, who continues to learn the game of rugby.

“The veterans motivate us and spend a lot of time and effort teaching,” Willis said.

The UW-P Women’s Rugby Club will travel to Eau Claire on Saturday, April 17 for the Ironwomen rugby tournament.
Kern’s hopes to keep building on the team’s success this past weekend.

“We played well against tough teams. I’m pretty sure we shocked every team at the tournament. We need to keep our heads up and keep building on our success.”