This weekend marks the women's rugby season kickoff, with a Boston tournament hosted by one of the premier women's rugby clubs in the country, the Beantown Rugby Football Club.
The Polar Bears will play in a round-robin style competition starting tomorrow, with Smith College at noon and Amherst College at 2 p.m.
The team enhanced its preseason this year with a three-day camp run by Peter Baggetta and Farrah Douglas '99, who both coach the strong 180-member rugby program at Gonzaga High in Washington, D.C. "I think it was a great springboard for the season," said Head Coach MaryBeth Mathews. "It was a good time for them to build and reinforce critical skills, and at the same time get to interact with Farrah and see where they can go with this sport."
The team roster features strong returning players, including Uche Esonu '13, Lynn Freedman '13, Dani McAvoy '13, Kerry Townsend '13 and Anissa Tanksley '14.
Senior captain Katie Mathews is looking forward to playing rugby again on U.S. soil. "I played when I was abroad in Australia," she said. "It was really fun and I learned a lot."
This year's team has big shoes to fill—last year's captains Loryn Fridie '11 and Becky Stevens '11 were both named USA Rugby Division-II All-Americans.
"I think we have a strong group of returners that prepare and play with passion," said captain Allie Dupont '12.
The team also looks to bolster its roster with a strong rookie class.
"We have 13 or 14 rookies and we are always looking for people," said MaryBeth Mathews, "as we are still a no-cut sport."
"People's attitudes are all that matters," she added. "If the outlook is to become incrementally better, the sky is the limit and they can be competitive at any level."
This year's regular season schedule will consist entirely of NESCAC opponents, as Bowdoin women's rugby transitions into the first year of an all-NESCAC league.
"We're looking forward to Williams and Colby," said MaryBeth Mathews, "but we're excited for all of [our opponents] and we can't take anyone for granted."
"One of our team goals is to go and compete in nationals," said Katie Mathews. "Even though we have a young team, there is a lot of potential."