Women’s Spring 2015 Season Recap
The task before Charles River Women’s Rugby at the start of this spring season—defending an unprecedented #2 USA Rugby DII regional tournament seed, obtained last fall after a club-best finish—seemed daunting. But the Lady Rats, as so many times before, rose heroically to the challenge. At the USA Rugby regional playoffs, hosted in Albany, NY, on May 16th & 17th, the Rats defeated Beantown Rugby by a single point, 20-19, to advance to the national round of 16. The victory against Beantown was the first schedule win against the longtime rivals in the history of the club, and an emotional triumph. Burlington Women’s Rugby defeated the Rats in the round of sixteen the next day, sending the Burly Girls to represent the Northeast Union in the national quarter-finals in North Carolina. But the split earned the Charles River Rats a second-place tournament finish in the Northeast bracket, the best in the club’s 10-year history.
Charles River embarked on the spring season set to build toward the regional playoffs under the direction of head coach Brian Lottridge and captains Alicia Scahill and Jehanne Junguenet. Despite sporting a markedly different roster than the one that first earned the tournament bid, the Rats coalesced over the short spring season. The CRWRFC built a crescendo of momentum, adapting to challenges throughout the schedule. The team opened with success against a growing Amoskeag Rugby Club, but then suffered discouraging losses to the Hartford Wild Roses and Albany Knickerbockers. The executive board decided to forego the annual NERFU cup in order to rest the club for national competition. The rest rallied the Lady Rats, who performed very well the following week in a loss to a fresh-faced North Shore Monsoon club. Emerging renewed after the strong effort, River upturned Beantown to capture the unprecedented finish the following weekend in Albany.
Riding high from their historic finish, the Lady Rats have kicked off summer 7s practice. Charles River Women’s Rugby will celebrate the club’s 10th anniversary this fall.