Lady Ruggers will try to bounce back vs. Vassar

The Lady Ruggers, coming off a rough weekend against Navy, Radcliffe and Virginia Tech, will face Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., tomorrow afternoon. Penn State coach Pete Steinberg said he will use the Vassar game as a developmental opportunity to give younger players some exposure and to give older players the day off.

Several players suffered head injuries during the last road trip and this weekend will give those players a chance to recuperate.

"Vassar is trying to be a center of excellence," Steinberg said. "But they are still are one of the weaker teams."

The Ruggers need to get back into top shape to take on their next opponent, the extremely strong Princeton Tigers.

Vassar has been plagued by inconsistent play as it has careened from match to match.

Vassar lost to Princeton 45-0 in September and again to the Tigers 45-3 in March.

But the Vassar Brewers crushed Cornell 67-0 later that same day and at the end of the month swamped Columbia 39-0.

"We're a small school and the only way we are going to get better is to play better schools," Vassar coach Tony Brown said. "And Penn State is probably the best."

Brown, who also doubles as Vassar's sports information director, had arranged for his team to compete in England during spring break against Exeter and Bath Universities to prepare for the rest of the season.

Still, the Ruggers said they aren't too worried about this week's contest.

"It won't be as hard as last weekend," Penn State junior scrumhalf Kelly Kio said. "It will be good to try some people in different positions to give us some more freedom."

-- by Frank C. D'Amico