Lady Ruggers to hit weights after Navy loss

Now that the Penn State women's rugby team has faced its Final Four opponents, it knows exactly what it must do to win in the future.

And that is to hit the weight room.

This past weekend the Lady Ruggers were at Virginia Tech for a tripleheader against Radcliffe, Navy and Virginia Tech. While Penn State was able to beat Radcliffe 39-15 and Virginia Tech 17-15, the team was badly pushed around by Navy, losing 38-10.

"It was a bit of a shock to lose like that to Navy," Penn State coach Pete Steinberg said. "They were much fitter than we were and it showed the team how important fitness is."

Penn State easily took the first game against Radcliffe on Saturday despite the long road trip to Southern Virginia.

"We played some really good rugby against Radcliffe considering we had just traveled eight hours to get there right before the game," Steinberg said. "Communication by the team was superb."

The first game on Sunday told a much different story. Penn State fell behind early to Navy and was down at the half, 30-5. The Ruggers did slightly better in the second half before finally succumbing 38-10. Penn State will meet Navy first in the nationals finals.

Penn State scrum half Kelly Kio said this wake-up call means the team will have to work extra hard in the weight room. The team started yesterday doing extra weight workouts in Rec Hall.

In addition to weight training the team also does plenty of sprints and practices stronger rucking, which is hitting with the shoulder and driving other players off the ball.

Immediately after falling to Navy, Penn State had to dust off itself and face hosting Virginia Tech. The Ruggers, still aching from the Navy loss, scraped past Virginia Tech.

The team had several injuries over the weekend including concussions to Stephanie Freyvogel and Alli Schloss. Steinberg said neither was too serious and they will take off three weeks before returning for the nationals finals.

"The injuries showed that our team has substitutes that can step up," Kio said.

The team will have only three more days to work on strength conditioning before heading off to Vassar.

"We've always been able to pull it out at the end of games," Penn State junior prop Ingrid MacDonald said. "The team who can keep going wins, and we have to work on our physical and mental toughness."