W. Rugby Rucking Towards Nationals

"Bread of heaven / Bread of heaven," the Radcliffe women's rugby hymn pleads. "Feed me 'til I want no more."

If "bread of heaven" means "victory," this year's team is on its way to earning a very full stomach.

Following an undefeated fall season, the Black and White (8-1, 1-0 Ivy) has opened the spring with a tour-de-force performance, beginning with a crushing 51-0 thrashing of Virginia Tech, then sweeping to a 6-1 record in the seven road games of the spring tour.

The team then moved to an impressive and important 17-0 victory last weekend over Yale at Soldiers Field - a victory which earned Radcliffe a first-ever berth to the national tournament.

In between, the team enjoyed shutout wins over James Madison (20-0), Johns Hopkins (5-0), Chesapeake (14-0), Eno River (24-0) and Gotham (17-0). Radcliffe's lone setback came in an ugly loss to a powerful Air Force team, 0-44.

Earlier this year, the Black and White earned an invitation to the eastern territorial tournament based on its dominating fall performance. Here, the Black and White breezed past the Elis, 44-0.

But before Radcliffe could qualify for nationals, it had to face Yale once again, this time in the finals of the North-eastern Territorial Tournament.

The second game, held this past weekend, was not so easy. Radcliffe scored three tries and converted one of the two-point conversions, which was more than enough to down the Elis.

"[Yale] came out strong; they were really ready to play," team social chair Rebecca Wallison said of the game. "We're just really happy we came away with the win."

The strong showing thus far bodes well for the Black and White's performance during the rest of the season, as it faces a tough tournament schedule which includes stops at Stony Brook--where they will face defending champion Princeton--and MIT, as well as a match against Beantown, the Boston area women's club team.

"We're looking forward to lots and lots of games in preparation for Nationals," Wallison said. "During the spring tour, we discovered many things we needed to work on...now, we're hoping to iron out the rest of the kinks and get ready for what we'll have to face."

The season culminates with the Ivy League championships, held at Dartmouth April 27, and the national tournament, held at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs May 3-5.

"Happy' is pretty much an understatement to describe how we feel right now," Wallison said of the team's morale. "At this point we're just looking to come together as a team and face the challenges we have left. We feel confident that we'll put up a strong showing to finish off the year." Yale  0 Harvard  17