Greeting the goal line

The women’s rugby team shut out the Utah Stage Aggies 110-0. Can a team make a louder statement? These Wolverines have become a legitimate contender for making a long post-season run.

“We are really good,” said club president and player Sophia Wilson. “They [Utah State] are not so good this year.”

That is an accurate statement. Preceding the loss to UVU, Utah State had a 114-10 loss to BYU the previous week. That means in the Aggies’ last two matches, they have lost by a combined 214 points.

“For a lack of better words, they weren’t that good,” said senior Delyse Downey. “They’re a new, new team. They are very inexperienced and we could tell and we took advantage of it pretty bad.”

Even though the Wolverines were quick to point out that Utah State wasn’t the toughest team they will face this year, the margin of victory was still impressive.

“Usually if you make it up to 40s or 50s it’s a high scoring game,” Wilson said. “We were pretty much on offense the whole time. We have a bunch of girls this semester that are really good athletes, strong runners and just natural athletes.”

Every player on the team played and many players scored, so no official stats were kept.

“It’s kind of hard because 110 is kind of hard to keep track of,” Wilson said.

Some teams tend to practice differently and get lackadaisical following a huge win, but not this team. Amongst fitness and camaraderie, Downey thinks tackling is the next phase of their game to get an upgrade.

“I want us to be more aggressive on attacking,” Downey said. “Like, going at them rather than waiting and also when you’re running. I’m a big believer in just ducking your head and going. When you are timid you’re going to get hurt.”

After passing a road test in Logan, the Wolverines will play most of their remaining games at home. Rival BYU will make a very short trip from Provo to Orem on Saturday, Oct. 20 to play the Wolverines. The rivalry between these two teams is alive and well.

Downey made it clear that the rivalry isn’t dirty, though.

“Dirty makes it seem like we do cheap shots,” Downey said. “I don’t believe in cheap shots, but I do believe in making statements.”

They’ve already made a statement versus one team in the state, and it’s safe to say that a win over BYU would send another statement—that the Wolverines are for real.

It’s time that UVU students make a statement, as well, and get behind this national championship-caliber team by attending home games.