Club Sports: Women of West Windsor can tackle, too

Just ask junior co-captain Elaine Bigelow how she feels about rugby.

“I had a best friend who played all through college and told me how much fun it was,” Bigelow said. “Then, my [Outdoor Action] leader was captain of the team. I started playing, and I haven’t stopped since.”

Women’s rugby is one of 34 club sports offered at Princeton. Roughly 1,000 students participate in the club sports program each year. Bigelow estimates that 25 to 30 of these students are members of the women’s rugby team.

The official name of the women’s rugby squad is Princeton University Women’s Rugby Football Club (PUWRFC). Like the men’s rugby team and many other outdoor club sports, women’s rugby holds its practices and home matches at the West Windsor fields across Faculty Road and Lake Carnegie.

On Saturday, Oct. 11, PUWRFC faced off against West Chester, the only other Division I school in the Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union (EPRU). Princeton fell to the Golden Rams, 15-7. The match was a sneak preview of the EPRU Championship that the Tigers will host the weekend of Nov. 1-2, when they will again take on West Chester. Bigelow is confident that her team can bounce back for the next showdown.

“We lost, but we played the best we have all season,” Bigelow said. “It’s very doable to beat them.”

Junior and team president Anna Moccia-Field echoed Bigelow’s thoughts about the game.

“We lost, but the score didn’t reflect our overall performance,” Moccia-Field said. “During the second half, we held possession. Hopefully, next time, we can score more.”

The next matchup against West Chester is especially important because a championship win could give Princeton a better seeding heading into the spring season, Bigelow explained.

Before the loss to West Chester, the women’s rugby team had a dominant performance against Ivy League foe Penn on Sept. 27, when it handily defeated the Quakers, 29-3. The team has had a good deal of success against Penn in recent years, as the Tigers defeated Penn last season by scores of 24-12 and 35-5.

PUWRFC has two matches remaining before its rematch with West Chester, giving the squad a chance to gain confidence and prepare for the big game.

On Sunday, Oct. 19, the Tigers will go head-to-head against Penn State in another home match. The team will then travel to compete in the Mason Dixon Tournament on Oct. 25.

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Like most of the 34 club sports teams, women’s rugby does outside fundraising to cover incidental expenses. Moccia-Field noted that PUWRFC team members can be seen selling tickets at events like varsity soccer and football games.

Along with the fundraising activities, PUWRFC receives support from The Friends of Rugby, an organization that donates money to help pay for uniforms, equipment and travel, according to the PUWRFC website.

Since rugby is not widely played or viewed in the United States, Moccia-Field explained, most team members had little experience with the sport before coming to Princeton.

“I e-mailed the team before freshman fall because I knew that I wanted to play,” Moccia-Field said. “I am one of the only people on the team who had played before coming to college.”

Because most freshmen don’t know the ins and outs of rugby when they arrive at Princeton, recruitment is a key for the team during the fall.

“Recruiting girls can be challenging,” Bigelow said. “Rugby is a foreign sport, and most people have never seen a game. We recruit a lot during freshman week with flyers around campus and at the activities fair.”

Members of PUWRFC know how much fun the sport of rugby can be every time they step onto the field, and that is the message that Bigelow tries to convey to the rest of campus.

“We really try to show people how much fun we have as a team,” Bigelow said. “Also, we show them how much we love the sport and that they can, too.”