Cold weather, muddy fields and torrential downpours couldn't stop the Penn State women's rugby team this weekend.

And neither could two of the top teams in the nation as the Lady Ruggers captured the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union Championship and the No. 1 ranking in the nation thanks to the victory.

"We are the Illinois of women's rugby," Penn State captain Maggie Reed said.

Penn State defeated Princeton and Virginia en route to its second MARFU Championship.

"It feels excellent to win this," Reed said.

"This is a tournament we don't typically win."

The Lady Ruggers started the weekend off in "disastrous" conditions Saturday against Princeton.

The match was delayed due to heavy rains, but the Lady Ruggers adjusted well to the conditions and sloshed through the mud to come out on top, 7-0, in a low-scoring affair.

"The score really doesn't indicate the tempo of the game," Reed said.

"We physically dominated and outplayed them."

Yesterday, after poor field conditions forced the title game to be moved an hour away from Princeton to another location in southern New Jersey, the Lady Ruggers picked up where they left off and defeated Virginia, 16-5, to win the MARFU crown.

"Our forwards really controlled the scrums," Reed said.

"And our backs did a fantastic job handling the ball and communicating."

The Lady Ruggers got scoring tries from Amber Benlian and Diana Klein. Amy Manidis added two penalty kicks to round out the scoring for Penn State.

Reed attributes the team's overall commitment to winning as its key to success this weekend.

"All our players played intense games," she said.

"We tried to maximize our entire potential."

The newly top-ranked Lady Ruggers believe their victories this weekend will help build confidence and momentum for the National Championships in Gainesville, Fla., on April 16. Nevertheless, they know that the road to the national title may be a more difficult one because everyone will be gunning for them.

"It's good momentum for us, however, it allows other teams to see us and how we play," Reed said. "The other teams can now measure what they have to do to beat us. We have to keep getting better to keep up. It's harder when you are on top."