Women’s rugby sees early success under new coaching staff

In their fifth season varsity, the women’s rugby team (4–1 overall) has found their rhythm. This fall, the team started the season with a win over La Salle (3–2 overall), a team that has historically prevailed in Princeton matches, and three shutout victories against Long Island University (2–1 overall) and Division 2 teams West Chester University (1–3 overall) and Frostburg State University (2–2 overall). Last Friday, the Tigers fell to one of the most competitive Division 1 women’s rugby teams, Dartmouth (3–2 overall), by their smallest margin ever, with a final score of 55–14. 

“The team’s just improved by so much, and I think even though we’ve had these big blowout games this season, that’s been fun, but being able to play such a challenging team like Dartmouth and be able to make it competitive has been huge for our program,” junior captain and back row Lindsey Mulligan said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian. 

The journey for the women’s rugby team from a club sport in the 2020–21 season to a varsity program has not been problem-free.​​ In their first four fall varsity seasons, the team had three winless seasons and two victories total, and last year struggled with injury and recruitment problems.

This season, though, the team has found their stride under new head coach Karameli Fa’ae’e and assistant coaches Kristin Zdanczewicz and Tai Tuisamoa. Fa’ae’e was hired in Spring 2026 after serving as an assistant coach at Brown the year prior. 

“The coaches instilled the new standard for us as a team, and it really does stem from belief in every single one of us as individuals, but also our collective as a team,” senior captain and center Malinka Kwemo told the ‘Prince.’

Fa’ae’e’s rugby pursuit started at a young age, playing touch rugby with her church. 

“I’m Samoan, and I grew up in New Zealand, so rugby is a big part of that culture,” she said. 

During her junior year in high school, Fa’ae’e helped start a rugby team for her school, where she became captain. She went on to represent Samoa and New Zealand as an athlete on their women’s rugby teams. She eventually moved to the U.S. and joined the USA women’s rugby team. She captained the team in 2017, where they finished fourth in the Women’s Rugby World Cup. 

“I was very protective of my team,” Fa’ae’e told the ‘Prince.’ “I think that’s why I naturally became captain. The coaches would always see me as someone who would bring forward the voice of anything that the team requested.”

After retiring from the US team, she went on to coach “anyone and everyone”: middle school PE classes; all-star teams; teams in South Africa; and Jamaica’s national women’s team, the Lady Crocs. In 2025 she joined the Brown team, her first time settling down with a team for an entire season. 

“I recognize that I love this age group in particular,” Fa’ae’e said. “The fact that this is that smaller percentage that still choose sport after high school. We know a lot of girls don’t continue playing for whatever reason, so I made a decision that I wanted to stay with this age group.”

“Especially in a rigorous academic environment where you’re constantly in your head and just learning a lot, sport in this environment can close that loop and really allow people to be more holistic,” she continued.

Entering the head coach role, Fa’ae’e said she came in with the initial goal of building trust with the players on the team.

“I was inheriting a team I did not recruit,” she said. “I was literally just going to come here and find out what has them thrive and give it to them. But that process takes time, takes buy-in.”

Fa’ae’e scheduled video calls with every member of the team in the summer before the fall season to meet the players, and also worked to find her coaching team. Reflecting on what she learned from meeting the players over the summer, she noted, “We knew that we were coming into a team that was just ready for what’s next — that was my impression.”

The team captains emphasized the role the coaching staff has had on the success and progress of the team. Ahead of the team’s first game of the season, Mulligan recalled feeling uncertain about where the team stood in terms of their level of play. 

“Going into that game, we also weren’t entirely sure of how we would perform. We had been just given an entirely new coaching staff, starting on a blank slate,” Mulligan said. 

Fa’ae’e attributed some of the early success of the season to the readiness of the team. 

“They were so ready and clear on what it is that they wanted, they were able to ask for that, and we’re very good at being competitive,” she said.

One problem the team faced last year was high injury rates, which prevented the team from fielding a full 15-player match in five of their six games.

This season, though, the team has reported far fewer injuries, which they say has boosted their success.

“[The coaches] really like to put a lot of care into how we recover, how we train, and these are some of the best coaches in the country,” Mulligan said. 

Senior captain and fullback Ava Gregory also pointed to data the team has been tracking to help aid in recovery and prevent injuries. Players wear GPS and heart rate trackers in practices and games to measure running and help to inform the intensity of the workouts in practices. 

“The depth of our team, too, being able to bring on subs and deal with injuries when they do happen, is a really big testament to the coaching,” Gregory said. 

In the spring, there were some concerns that prospective high school recruits had lost interest in Princeton due to the largely non-competitive caliber of the team against Ivy peers, mostly caused by discrepancies in recruitment spot numbers. Fa’ae’e expressed optimism about the trajectory of the team and shared her goal to cultivate the most competitive team possible with the current walk-on/recruit ratio. 

“Our roster this year, you wouldn’t know who was a recruit,” Fa’ae’e said. “This is still a university … It’s always a balance, and I like the challenge of finding those gems that are highly academic and athletic, and then trying to build an environment where they get to not choose but be both.”

The women’s rugby team has opted out of the playoffs for the Division 1 post-season championship, meaning they will not play in post-season matches for the NCAA title this year. Fa’ae’e expressed confidence in participating in the championship league next fall. 

“This year has been a good opportunity for us to rebuild,” Fa’ae’e said. 

“So next year we’re definitely going to put our hand up to go for the premiership.”

The women’s rugby team will play Mount St. Mary’s (0–4 overall) this Saturday at home in their senior match, followed by a match from the men’s club team against Harvard, in a celebration of the 150th reunion of rugby at Princeton.

Devon Rudolph is a head Podcast editor and senior News writer. She is from Fairfax, Va. and typically covers investigations. She can be reached at devonr[at]dailyprincetonian.com.

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.