Even in the midst of its 28-7 loss to Brown University on Sunday, the Penn State women's rugby team found reason to be optimistic.

After falling to Brown for the second straight year in the final round of the Beantown Women's Collegiate Rugby Tournament, the Lady Ruggers found motivation to drive their season, along with new players to contribute.

Senior Meghan Byrnes studied abroad last fall and was not with the team when it suffered the loss to Brown in the tournament, but she remembers her teammates talking about how the match pushed them to work harder for the spring.

"It's not fun to see them celebrating beating us but then again you have to put things into perspective and use that as the fuel for wanting to beat them if we ever meet them again in the final four," Byrnes said.

The Lady Ruggers defeated Massachusetts, Yale and Cornell before facing Brown. They also played Beantown's B-side, one of the best club teams in the country and winner of six national championship titles. Although they lost the match, assistant coach Jim Mathias said it was a hard-fought game and a good experience for the Lady Ruggers.

Mathias also gave credit to Brown, saying their team dominated most of the game in all stages and took advantage of the Lady Ruggers' slow start after a long weekend of rugby.

He would not be surprised if the two teams were to face each other again in the spring.

"I think they are definitely going to be a team to be reckoned with in the national championship run next spring," Mathias said. "I think Brown right now might be the best team in the country. They're a very well-coached, very strong program and have been for a while."

Although the Lady Ruggers will field a much different team in the spring with the return of many experienced players who are studying abroad and on internship, the weekend highlighted some of the new players who could be play a role in defending their title.

Mathias was impressed with the way the rookies played in the tournament and saw a lot of promise with two players in particular.

Freshman Nadia Garnett and junior Colleen Murphy played in their first matches for the Lady Ruggers this weekend, and junior Rebecca Koons said they both made huge hits that a lot of experienced players still haven't made. By the end of the weekend, Murphy had improved so much she started in the A-side's match vs. Brown. Koons compared her to junior Deven Owsiany, a player who joined the team last spring having never played before and started in the national championship game.

"She's just figured it out," Koons said. "She gets it. She's a natural at it and she's not afraid and it's amazing to see rookies play like that."

On a weekend where the purpose was to integrate the rookies into the team, the Lady Ruggers held a team meeting in the hotel lobby after Saturday's matches. The players ate dinner together and talked about what defines Penn State rugby, what they represent and what they want out of the season. It gave the rookies a better understanding of the team they joined and familiarized them with the program.

"We want them to feel like they are part of Penn State rugby, not just some new kid that showed up a couple weeks ago," Koons said.

The team also set up informal rules for the weekend to make sure everyone got to know each other. Rookies weren't supposed to hang out with only other rookies, and the players were assigned travel roommates rather than choosing their own.

"We're all one team so we mixed up rooms based on year," Byrnes said. "We tried to keep it within the same positions so if a younger player had a question they could ask an older player. It's just a part of getting to know who you'll be playing with the most, and part of the fun is getting to know all the new people."