Loss to Princeton lingers in lady ruggers minds

The Penn State women's rugby team has a score to settle. It has lived for one year with the memories of a 20-12 championship game loss to Princeton.

The team is practicing, training and playing women's college and club teams, including Virginia Tech and North Carolina, to prepare. The Lady Ruggers continue their preparation against the Maryland Stinger at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow at the field behind the flower gardens.

This all comes after a first half of exciting games and much improvement.

"We are concentrating a little more on conditioning," Jen Sikora said.

This type of preparation includes mandatory practices on Mondays and Wednesdays and rigorous conditioning on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The schedule must be kept because the players need to be in top condition to play games that may be played on back-to-back days.

Another type of preparation is warm-ups, which are done before games and consist of visualization with coach Pete Steinberg and team captain Megan Brown.

Penn State hosts this year's championships that showcase such teams as Princeton, Radcliff and Air Force. These teams will make up the first division, or the "final four" division.

There is also another slate of games to be played. This division, or the "plate" division, is for teams that finished second in their respective regions.

This is comparable to the National Invitation Tournament in basketball. Some teams in this division include Florida State, Virginia Tech and Marquette.

Rugby nationals were first held in 1991 and included such teams as Oregon State and Houston. The teams are divided into seven territorial unions and ranked regionally.

Penn State gained the right to host this tournament on a provisional basis, meaning if it provides a conducive atmosphere, it will host the tournament next year as well.

This is not done by any ordinary means. Thousands of dollars must be raised to promote an event like this, as $5,000 is all the Lady Ruggers are allotted by the University because they are a club team. It is one of the fastest growing club sports, though, and if it achieves varsity status, it will be given more money.

It costs about $20,000 for a rugby team to complete a season. The Lady Ruggers have to find the means to play the sport they love. They jostle with the football team in Holuba Hall for practice time. They occasionally stay and eat at relatives' or friends' houses during road trips and travel using their own cars.

This is why Steinberg considers these people true "student-athletes." He said they prove, in this way every day, that they love to play the game.

The only thing that may hinder this year's team is injuries to starting players, such as Dawn Knudsen and Julie Gummo, who have torn their anterior cruciment ligaments.

Every day the tournament grows closer, the team gears up for its title run.

"We have a lot of players coming back with national championship experience," Brown said, "and I think our chances are really good."

Note:

n  The Ruggers' A and B sides are also in action this weekend, when they face Hamilton College at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow at a field behind the flower gardens.