Nash Bash 2010

On March 26, the Illinois Women's Rugby team left Champaign-Urbana and drove 6 hours south to Nashville, TN, to participate in one of the largest rugby tournaments in the Midwest area. More than 80 teams participated in 5 brackets: Men's Club, Men's Collegiate, Women's Club, Women's Collegiate Competitive, and Women's Collegiate Social. We participated in the Women's Collegiate Competitive bracket.

Our first game was bright and early at 8am Saturday morning. We faced off against University of Kentucky. They were short of players, but fortunately there were some free agents wandering around the tournament grounds who lent their numbers to UK. The games for the tournament consisted of two 25 minute halves. After 50 minutes of rugby on the frost-covered field, we left the defeated..

The second game didn't take place until 4:30 in the afternoon. The team spent its free time wandering the tournament and watching other teams play rugby. Many watched some of our alumni play for Chicago Women's Rugby Club. We also played Kan Jam, our new favorite outdoor pasttime. Some took naps, some had scrum practice, and many got a good amount of sun. After a long wait, 4:30 finally rolled around.

The second game of the day was against Dennison, a college based in Ohio. The frost had given way to a warm, sunny day and a nice dry ground; perfect for a game of rugby. We dominated the first half and only allowed them to score a couple trys during the second half. This game was a wonderful success, with the majority of the game played in their half and a party soundtrack blaring in the background.

Saturday came to a close with much socializing. The teams gathered around the tournament tent, singing songs and exchanging stories of the day. When the sun finally set, we left tired and sore, retiring back to the food and showers that awaited us at the La Quinta Inn.

The weather Saturday was too good to be true, so, of course, it rained for Sunday. You can't have Nash Bash without rain. When we got to the fields, there were pools of standing water and a giant rainbow over the grounds. Our third game was Sunday morning at 8:30am against Nebraska. It was a very wet game, well played by both sides and ending in a tie. We concluded the tournament with some good old-fashioned puddle jumping (and sliding).

All in all, Nash Bash was a success again this year.

More pictures of us and other women's teams can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rvermillion/sets/72157623593332203/show/with/4469544105/

Thank you to Asia, Jojo, and Toby for filming for me!
Thanks to all those who came to support us!

Next Saturday: Off to SIU for All Fool's!

Three cheers for Nash Bash!
hip hip HOORAY! hip hip HOORAY! hip hip HOORAY!
Three cheers for the sir!
hip hip HOORAY! hip hip HOORAY! hip hip HOORAY!
THREE CHEERS FOR U OF I!!
HIP HIP HOORAY!! HIP HIP HOORAY!! HIP HIP HOORAY!!

Photos!

Hello everyone!

Practice has started for the 2009 Spring season. We have also arrived on a tentative schedule for the semester. Due to technical problems, I have been unable to post it on the website. However! I'm going to put it here for your reading enjoyment. And for those of you that don't like to read, here's a bunch of pictures from our January 27 and 29th practices, along with a picture from working at Assembly Hall concessions.

Enjoy!

Tentative Spring 2009 Schedule
March 14 - Whiskey 10's Tournament @ Blue Island, IL (South Side Irish Fields at Gaelic Park)
March 25-28 - Spring Break Tour: Possible game on Thursday? Nash Bash @ Nashville, TN, on Saturday
April 4 - Sabres @ home, possible game with an Old Girl's current team?
April 11 - North Shore Clinic @ home
April 18 - Tournament of Champions @ NIU
April 25 - University of Minnesota @ home

November 1 - Grand Valley State University

Pictures and more blog to come later! I promise!

Our game against GVSU this weekend was our deciding match for our shot at Nationals. Our second home game, but alas, we lost. GVSU won this match 44 to 29. Congratulations to them. It was a good match.

GVSU is a team on the verge of going varsity (if they're not already). They had two full teams, and were able to play a 20 minute B-side match with entirely fresh legs.

Because of their varsity status, they are unable to socialize as we normally do, so we opted for a pizza/singing party on the side of the pitch. It was still a lot of fun, regardless of the change of normal location. Also due to their varsity status, they can't sing anything about beer, so they cleverly replaced it with "juice". But...it just doesn't sound the same. GVSU had to leave early to take the five hour drive home in order to get home at a decent time.

Thanks for all your support!

Statistics
Date: 11-1-2008
Final Score: 29 (us) to 44
Score by Halftime: 10 (us) to 17
Minutes per Half: 40

Trys:
Scooby - 1
Shoddy - 2
Elvy - 1
Wheels - 1

Conversion Kicks:
Scooby - Attempted: 5 Successful: 2

GVSU: 7 trys, 3 conversions, + 1 field goal

Our first defeat. Record 8-1. We moved up to 10th nationally. We shall see what ranking we have now. Stay posted.

Thank you to Elwood and Fisher for filming for me!
To all those who came to support us!

Next Saturday: Off to Little Rock, AR, for the Ozark tournament, which we will DOMINATE both on the field and off!!

Three cheers for GVSU!
hip hip HOORAY! hip hip HOORAY! hip hip HOORAY!
Three cheers for the sir!
hip hip HOORAY! hip hip HOORAY! hip hip HOORAY!
THREE CHEERS FOR U OF I!!
HIP HIP HOORAY!! HIP HIP HOORAY!! HIP HIP HOORAY!!

October 18 - Michigan State University

Our game against MSU this weekend was our second pool play for the Fall 08 season. This was the first real home game of the year and it was a success! We won this match 38 to 10. Having won both our pool play games, we will be hosting the Elite 8 Tournament here at U of I.

MSU drove for a long time and arrived early that morning with only 15 girls in tow. Word has it that because they had just become a serious team (and less of a club) they lost a lot of girls and the coach was rebuilding the team. Even though they were
short on girls, they were kind enough to grace us with a B-side 25 minute half with the girls they could offer. We wound up donating four of our own players to them in order to make the B-side match happen.

The House kindly hosted the social. Fun was had by all! Parents were even seen taking active part in the fun. The MSU team was fun, but unfortunately they had to leave early in order to drive back home.

Statistics
Date: 10-18-2008
Final Score: 38 (us) to 10
Score by Halftime: 12 (us) to 5
Minutes per Half: 40

Trys:
Janelle - 1
Wheels - 1
Crack - 2
Lipa - 2

Conversion Kicks:
Fish - Attempted: 6 Successful: 4

MSU: 2 trys, 0 conversions.

Currently undefeated. Record 8-0. Ranked 14th still.

Thank you to d-d-d-d-d-d-Dingo for filming for me!
To all those who came to support us!

This week is Rookie Week! Stay posted for updates, I'm going to try to blog for every day so all our loyal fans have something to read.

Next Saturday, October 25 was supposed to be a match against EIU at Charleston, IL. We have withdrawn from this match in preparation for the Elite 8 tournament the following weekend.

NEXT NEXT SATURDAY NOVEMBER 1: ELITE 8 TOURNAMENT @ HOME! COME OUT AND CHEER FOR YOUR ILLINOIS WOMEN'S RUGBY TEAM AS THEY TAKE ON GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY!

Three cheers for MSU!
hip hip HOORAY! hip hip HOORAY! hip hip HOORAY!
Three cheers for the sir!
hip hip HOORAY! hip hip HOORAY! hip hip HOORAY!
Three cheers for U OF I!!
HIP HIP HOORAY!! HIP HIP HOORAY!! HIP HIP HOORAY!!

October 10 - Purdue

After 2 weekends of no games, we finally had one again! Last week was a free weekend with no scheduled games, and the week before the Marquette didn't attend.

We traveled to Lafayette, IN, for a game against Purdue. We walked in with a mindset that we were going to win, and we walked out with that goal fulfilled. We won the match 48-26, dominating the majority of the game. We even out-hyped them in their own parking lot, according to Schmarra (the Purdue out-center).

I believe this was our first full 80-minute game of the season. The weather was nice, but it got a little hot towards the end of the game. We were supposed to have a B-side half match as well, but we were unable to because the game started late and the Purdue boys had to take the field right after our game. Apologies to all the girls that did not get to play because of this! Also, we were supposed to have a social, but the day the game landed on was part of their October break, and no one was at their house. But they kindly brought us pizza which everyone devoured.

Statistics
Date: 10-10-2008
Final Score: 48 (us) to 26
Score by Halftime: 28 (us) to 7
Minutes per Half: 40

Trys:
Asia - 2
Elvy - 2
Shoddy - 2
Lipa - 1
Wheels - 1

Conversion Kicks:
Fish Attempted: 8 Successful: 4

Purdue: 4 trys, 3 conversions.

Currently undefeated, ranked 14th.

Thank you to Tonka and Panda for filming and taking statistics for me!
To all those who came who unfortunately did not get to play, thank you for coming! Your support (and you water-bringing skills!) really helped us.

Next Week is Rookie Week!

NEXT SATURDAY OCTOBER 18: MICHIGAN STATE @ HOME! COME OUT AND CHEER FOR YOUR ILLINOIS WOMEN'S RUGBY TEAM!

September 27 - Marquette

This weekend was supposed to be a home game against Marquette, but due to unforeseen circumstances, they were unable to attend the game. So, to keep ourselves active, we had a Saturday morning practice.

There was a church organized mini-Olympics enthusiastically going on nearby; they did a pseudo-Haka that we cheered for.

Next weekend we have a free weekend with no scheduled games. Many are going home, and those who are staying should be helping with our new philanthropy.

The weekend after that we face Purdue for our first pool play game!

September 20 - Sabres

This week we went down to St. Louis to face the Sabres, a women's club team based in St. Louis. They faced Mizzou right before us which push our game until 3pm. It was the first (technically second) game of the season for them. We won this game, too. The final score was 19 to 12. Because of our victory over the Sabres, our rank jumped up to 14th.