Emil Signes, Coach, Princeton Women S Rugby

Spring 2013 Report #3 – 3/30-3/31/13: WE WIN IVIES!! First time since 2005 Emil Signes, Coach, Princeton Women’s Rugby

Monday April 1, 2013 V 2.0

Dear Parents and Alumni/ae:

For the first time since 2005 the Princeton women have won the Ivy League Championship tournament. And it’s also the first time since 2005 we’ve beaten Brown. At their field!!! (After we got beat out for a “should have been ours” bid for the Ivy championship venue by Brown – and a New England voting bloc cabal.) We played, inspired by co-captain Olivia Garard’s words, “We are playing at West Windsor and this is our field” and after the game collected a little patch of the field to deposit at West Windsor.

We used 22 players in our first victory, against Harvard, 49-5, but we had an “Iron XV” in the final vs. Brown: we didn’t make a sub in the entire game. Not that we couldn’t have, but we reached a stage when I reckoned we were going to metaphorically live or die with that lineup.

Next week we play Penn at home with a mostly 2nd XV lineup. In two weeks, on April 13, we will play in the US Round of 16 (the NCAA won’t let rugby officially call it the “Sweet Sixteen,” but that’s basically what it is) in Pittsburgh. This is the 5th time in the round of 16 in the 10 years I’ve been here. It’s been a great season so far, but the best is yet to come.

It’s a great feeling. -- Emil

Spring 2013 Schedule and Results (orange = home games)

Date Venue First XV (7-1) Second XV (2-3) 3/2/13 @ Charlottesville 26 North Carolina 10 0 UVA B 22 3/2/13 @ Charlottesville 54 Maryland 0 7 Navy B 15 3/3/13 @ Charlottesville 20 Pittsburgh 0 -VWIT SF 19 Navy B 5 (est) 3/3/13 @ Charlottesville 10 Navy 17 - VWIT final 3/9/13 @ DC 61 George Washington 5 7 George Washington B 5 3/20/13 @ San Diego, CA 37 San Diego Surfers [2nd XV] 5 3/21/13 @ Irvine, CA 13 UC Irvine 15 3/30/13 @ Providence 49 Harvard 5 (Ivy Rugby Semifinal) 3/31/13 @ Providence 22 Brown 17 (Ivy Rugby Championship) 4/6/13 @ Princeton U Penn 4/13/13 Sweet Sixteen in Pittsburgh 4/14/13 Sweet Sixteen in Pittsburgh 4/20/13 @ Princeton Temple (Senior Game) Temple later games TBA 3/30/2013:Providence, RI. Princeton 49 Harvard 5. This game was all ours and we continued to prove that our team is anything but a one-trick pony. For a couple of years we did most of our scoring with our outside backs, but as teams worked hard to contain our backs our forwards grew in stature and ability and we are now able to strike from anywhere, to score from anywhere, and to defend from anywhere. We scored 9 tries in this game, and they were scored by 8 different players. Whereas we’ve scored a lot of tries directly from first phase ball, we weren’t able to do that in this game, but we showed that’s not a requirement. If we trace our tries from the source of the ball to the try, this is how they occurred. (All this terminology will be understandable to the alums, if not the parents.)

1. at 5:15: penalty play – 3 rucks – Devan try 2. at 14:40: stole Harvard scrum – 6 rucks – PK to us at line – Dot try 3. at 22:50: stole Harvard scrum – FK to us – 5 rucks – Elizabeth try 4. at 29:40: our scrum – quick tap FK – ruck – Lauren to Kristy, try (with her whole family standing at an elevated street level just over the goal line where she scored) 5. at 32:30: stole Harvard LO – 3 rucks – Morgan try 2 nd half 6. at 2:40: our scrum, 11 rucks, & several things we practiced-post, hammer, green, Steph try 7. at 6:50: stole Harvard LO, maul, Lelabari try 8. at 14:35: Harvard scrum, FK to us, 7 rucks, kick, PK, ruck, another PK, Lauren try 9. at 29:00: our LO – 3 rucks – Lelabari try

Great versatility and the scoring didn’t diminish as the replacements came in.

Saturday, 3/30/13. Princeton vs Harvard Replacements: 1. Olivia Garard ‘13 2. Kelsey Henderson ‘15 Abby Badura ’15, R for Steph, Nida to SH, 3. Elizabeth Sajewski ’13 (T) Abby to OC 4. Lelabari Giwa-Ojuri ’14 (2T) Maddy Lea ’16, R for Morgan 5. Sarah Rounsifer ‘13 Andrea Malleo ’16, R for Madeleine 6. Mireille Pardon ’14 Cat Lambert ’15 for Lauren (T,C) 7. Madeleine Karn ’13, R Maya Gainer ’13 for Mireille 8. Dot Mittow ’14 (T) Emilie Burke ’15 for Dot Mittow, Kelsey to flanker, Andrea to #8, Emilie to hooker 9. Stephanie Kim ’15 (T) Ozi Obi-Onuoha ’16, R for Elizabeth 10. Lauren Rhode ‘12 (T) 11. Devan Kreisberg ’13 (T,C) Orange = rookie 12. Ariel Jespersen ‘13 13. Nida Leeuwenburgh ‘13 14. Kristy Giandomenico ’14 (T) 15. Morgan Arthur ’14 (T)

Sunday, 3/31/13

This was the kind of game that makes old coaches worry about the condition of their heart and/or go nuts on the sidelines. But it was a true championship caliber game. Here is the history of Princeton v Brown since I’ve been coaching:

In 2004 I had only been here a few weeks, and we led Brown 13-11 in the Ivy tournament semifinal with no time left; they had a lineout at our goal line. I saw what was happening too late; they threw to the person at the 5-m line who scored the winning try. I sent out what I thought was a consoling email to the team and was surprised to get a response that intimated I wasn’t taking the Ivy League seriously enough… “Whoa!” I realized, “this is going to be tougher than I thought”… It was clear the Ivy competition wasn’t anything to take lightly (or even be perceived to be taking lightly). Getting to the 2004 Final Four helped. In 2005 we met Brown again, this time in the Ivy final, and won. We followed up with another trip to the Final Four.

From then on we haven’t had much luck with Brown, although we’ve done well against the other Ivies. In 2011 we had a great comeback victory vs. Dartmouth in the Ivy semis before getting crushed in the final. In the Fall of 2011 we nearly upset Brown in October before losing pretty solidly in November. This past fall, in the league season that determined this year’s Ivy tourney seeding, we lost to Brown again (I was surprised when reviewing the record that we had lost, in the end, by a bigger score than I remembered.) But there was no doubt in our mind that we could win this match.

4/10/04 L 13 16 @ Princeton Ivy Rugby SF 4/10/05 W 10 5 @ Princeton Ivy Rugby Final-champions 4/14/07 L 7 14 @ Portsmouth, RI Ivy Rugby QF 4/10/11 L 0 58 @ Princeton Ivy Rugby Final 10/22/11 L 17 24 @ Princeton Ivy Rugby league match 11/4/11 L 12 36 @ Brown Northeast Rugby Union SF 10/13/12 L 5 33 @ Brown Ivy Rugby league match

After talking so much before the game about how focused we’d have to be to withstand Brown’s devastating centers and their outside speed, we gave up a try 41 seconds into the match, when we mishandled the opening KO, their wide center smashed it up and their tall center scored the try, and they made it look like they were going to have an easy time of it.

But opposed to some events in the past when I too might have thought the floodgates were opening, I had a good feeling about this match even after that, as Chris Ryan and Olivia Garard’s inspiring words had me ready to go out and tackle.

We clawed back into the game with a pushover try from a scrum scored by #8 Dot Mittow ’14 in the 21st minute. 10 minutes later tight rucking by the forwards led to a try by Kelsey Henderson ’15. With no time left in the first half flanker and Oxford exchange student Madeleine Karn ’13, R, blocked a kick at the Brown goal line. Excited and confused to find it in her belly, she passed it quickly and after a ruck or two lock Lelabari Giwa-Ojuri ’14 scored her 3rd try of the weekend, and Lauren Rhode converted to give us a 17-5 halftime lead.

We said the game was going to be all about us and not about Brown and that was true, both positively and negatively, as two second-half mistakes got Brown even at the 15-minute mark of the second half, 17-17. Then with about 7 minutes left, following a forward drive near the Brown goal, SH Stephanie Kim ’15 gave the ball to Lauren who got tackled to her back in the In- Goal but managed to roll through the tackle and get the ball down. After that it was all about hanging on, and the scrum was right next to me when I heard the ref say “last play.” We won the scrum, Morgan Arthur booted the ball comfortably into touch, and the celebration was on!

We’ll give the players a couple of days to enjoy and then we’ll be thinking of the Sweet Sixteen – no, the Round of 16 – in Pittsburgh.

It was quite an accomplishment – Ivy champs, Top Sixteen teams in the country – but for every ambitious team in the country, unless it’s winning a National Championship on the last week of the season, there’s never an end to the search for improvement in accomplishment.

Oh, here’s one more line to the Princeton-Brown record in my years here  3/31/13 W 22 17 @ Brown Ivy Rugby Final-champions

Sunday 3/31/13: Princeton vs Brown

1. Olivia Garard ‘13 9. Stephanie Kim ’15 2. Kelsey Henderson ’15 (T) 10. Lauren Rhode ‘12 (T) 3. Elizabeth Sajewski ’13 11. Devan Kreisberg ’13 4. Lelabari Giwa-Ojuri ’14 (T) 12. Ariel Jespersen ‘13 5. Sarah Rounsifer ‘13 13. Nida Leeuwenburgh ‘13 6. Andrea Malleo ’16, R 14. Kristy Giandomenico ’14 7. Madeleine Karn ’13, R 15. Morgan Arthur ’14 8. Dot Mittow ’14 (T) no replacements 1st XV scoring to date (16 different players – so far): Name T C PK DG Pts Lauren Rhode 5 11 2 1 56 Dot Mittow 10 2 0 0 54 Devan Kreisberg 6 0 0 0 30 Lelabari Giwa-Ojuri 5 0 0 0 25 Stephanie Kim 5 0 0 0 25 Olivia Garard 3 0 0 0 15 Kristy Giandomenico2 0 0 0 10 Maddy Lea 2 0 0 0 10 Mireille Pardon 2 0 0 0 10 Elizabeth Sajewski 2 0 0 0 10 Cat Lambert 1 2 0 0 9 Morgan Arthur 1 0 0 0 5 Emilie Burke 1 0 0 0 5 Kelsey Henderson 1 0 0 0 5 Madeleine Karn 1 0 0 0 5 Sarah Rounsifer 1 0 0 0 5 Total 48 15 2 1 279 Opponents 10 2 0 0 54

21 of our 48 tries have been scored by our #8, 9 and 10. And if you count our SH as a forward (Steph plays like one), 32 of the 48 have been scored by forwards. 2nd XV scoring to date: VWIT individual scoring missing (from Cats’ games).

Name T C PK DG Pts Cat Lambert 1 1 1 0 10 Lelabari Giwa-Ojuri 1 0 0 0 5 Tzu-Yung Huang 1 0 0 0 5 Missing (from VWIT) 4 3 0 0 26 Total 7 4 1 0 46 Opponents 11 2 1 0 62

The totals for the 2nd XV are confused by the fact that, at the VWIT – Virginia Women’s Invitational Tournament – we joined with the Pittsburgh Panthers to play as the Cats; the totals reflect that union, but not the individual stats. It may be that all the scores for us in those games were by Pitt players; I don’t have any by the Tigers recorded. cc: Team