The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
September 15, 2008 - 3B
Women's rugby
makes statement in
win over Spartans
Big win could propel
team from D-JJ to D-I
By JOE STAPLETON
Daily Sports Writer
Remember a certain surprising
upset for Michigan football last
year?
An upset of similar proportion
occurred in 2008, except it was
Michigan crossing divisions and
shocking the favorites.
In East Lansing on September 6,
the Division II Michigan women's
rugby team beat Division I Michi-
gan State, 22-17.
The distinction between divi-
sions differs every year. College
rugby is run by the United States
of America Rugby Football Union,
not the NCAA, which means divi-
sions are made based on team per-
formance, not school size.
Michigan State had a strong
season last year and was bumped
up to the top division. Michigan
entered this year in Division II,
but after the Wolverines' shock-
ing victory over the Spartans, the
team's fortunes are looking up.
"We could absolutely be moved
up to Division I," said Meghan
Haigh, an Engineering junior and
forward for the team.
How favored was Michigan
State?
"I have a friend who graduated
last year who said, 'I'm not going
to come to the game, you guys are
going to get destroyed,' " Michelle
Wong, an art history junior and
running back, said.
Michigan coach Herb Reich said
preparation was key to the win.
'It started with the work we
did in the winter," he said. "I chal-
lenged the girls to come out and
take this sport seriously, and I told
them rewards will come."
The big win indicates that the
women's rugby team is a program
on the rise. According to Haigh,
the team attracts many crossover
athletes from soccer, basketball
and even tackle football. Since the
sport is less popular among kids
in the United States as it is in the
rest of the world, most players dis-
cover rugby later in their athletic
careers.
"We get all those soccer girls
that have always wanted to tack-
le in soccer, basketball players,
lacrosse, hockey," Wong said.
"All these girls with a little extra
aggression, they make great play-
ers."
However, both Haigh and Wong
were quick to point out how rugby
is for all different kinds of people.
"Anyone can play, obviously we
get a lot of people who say, 'Oh, I'm
too small," Haigh said. "There are
15 players on the field, so there's
Spositions for fast kids, slow kids,
whatever."
Women's rugby is played with
the same ball and rules as men's
rugby, with the lone exception
being that women cannot hit each
other above the waist.
But make no mistake, the match-
es are still quite rough. Swollen
fingers, bruises, sprains, and even
dislocated shoulders are common
injuries.
"There is definitely a lot of icing
going on after games," Haigh said.
Despite the soreness, the team
has picked up a bunch of impact
rookies. Six first-year players
played against Michigan State,
with surprising results.
"We were able to find some girls
who were very comfortable going
into contact," Reich said. "And
that's something you can't teach."
The team holds rookie clinics
in the fall for interested students.
Students are also encouraged to
drop by practices from 6-8 p.m. on
Tuesdays and Thursdays at Mitch-
ell Field. Anyone who is inter-
ested is encouraged to check out
the website, http://www.umich.
edu/~umwrfc/ or contact Wong at
michwong@umich.edu.
FILE PHOTO
Michigan coach Andrew Sapp was pleased with his loom'sconsistency at the season-opening Waif tun Intercollegiate is Zionsville, Indiana.
With stor-m clouds overhead,
Michigan take ornamnt
Unlike in previous
years, team does not
succumb to pressure
in final round
By MATT JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan men's golf team
got off to a good start in most of its
tournaments last season.
Finishing strong on the final day
was the main problem for the Wol-
verines.
But Michigan maintained the
lead from start to finish to win
the Wolf Run Intercollegiate this
weekend in Zionsville; Ind., its
first tournament of the season.
The Wolverines held on for the
win after a great start on Satur-
day. Most of the other teams in the
tournament had finished the fioal
round before a 3 p.m. rain delay,'
but not Michigan. After the delay,
no one shot under par for the Wol-
verines with the course in terrible
shape.
"The weather wasn't good when
we finished, and we lost some
ground," Michigan coach Andrew
Sapp said. "But some other teams
struggled, too. We were fortunate
to maintain our lead coming in."
The Wolverines played consis-
tently throughout the weekend.
Senior Bill Rankin finished fourth,
sophomore Lion Kim finished fifth
and senior Nick Pumford finished
seventh. Junior Ross Millman and
sophomore Alexander Sitompul
also tied for 24th.
"It was a well-balanced attack
for our guys," Sapp said. "Every-
body contributed, and it really
showed the depth on our team."
The win is big for a Michigan
team with high expectations this
season. The Wolverines won twice
last year and finished in the top
five in four other tournaments,
missing out on qualifying for the
NCAA Championships by three
strokes.
Last weekend Michigan showed
that it's a different team now, with
the depth to close out tourna-
ments.
Michigan relied heavily on then-
senior Tim Schaetzel last season,
but enough players improved over
the summer and gained experi-
ence last year to make every start-
er a legitimate threat to finish in
the top 10 of any tournament.
Michigan also defeated Big Ten
foes .Illinois, Indiana, and Purdue
at Wolf Run. Indiana and Illinois
both finished higher than Michi-
gan at the Big Ten Tournament
last year.
"Our guys worked hard over the
summer and came back to a course
they had some success on," Sapp
said. "They played well and came
out to prove that we're the best
team in the Big Ten."