Women Ruggers Get Ready for N.E. Tournament

Just win, baby.

The Radcliffe rugby club knows it has one thing to do this weekend.

"We've just got to win," rugger Anne Moon said.

And everything else will fall into place.

If the Black-and-White just wins the first women's New England Rugby Tournament scheduled for this weekend in Randolph, the ruggers would also settle a score with archrival Dartmouth.

"I think we can beat Dartmouth this time," rugger Anne Moon said. "It will be good to play them again so soon."

But in order to get their shot at the Big Green, the ruggers must rack up a couple of wins in the first preliminary rounds.

Radcliffe is still smarting after falling to the Big Green in double-overtime last weekend in the Ivy League Tournament. Dartmouth captured the Ivy title over the Black-and-White for the third consecutive season.

The two rivals have met all four years in the Ivy Tournament to decide the champion, with Radcliffe winning the first year.

After battling to a scoreless tie through regulation, and then overtime, the Big Green defeated Radcliffe in a penalty-kicking contest.

Dartmouth bagged four kicks while the Black-and-White hit only two.

"They never scored on us, that is really important," Co-Captain Valerie Bogdan said. "We were more on the defensive, but after playing them, we feel we can beat them now."

In addition to Radcliffe and Dartmouth, Boston College and Williams are also among the top four seeds. The ruggers split with Boston College in a pair of contests in the fall.

"They are good," said Bogdan of the Eagles, "but their backline is not as good as ours. If we pull together, we should beat them."

The Black-and-White will be bolstered by the return of senior Heather Flewelling, a regular since her freshman year, and wing Lisa Brown.

The tournament is the first-ever for women. It was organized by the New England Rugby Football Union, which formed last year. The tournament will be used to pick the New England select-side.