League Meeting-New Teams

A slow week for WGR, as the emphasis shifts to off-season matters. Our staff field reporters are closing up shop for the winter, and finalizing picture entries for our state-wide contest.

Miscellaneous news bites:

Looking ahead, the All-Wisconsin Girls Rugby league meetings take place December 5th.

With scheduling on the agenda, any new high school girls rugby programs in Wisconsin are asked to attend and apply for membership. Interested girls, coaches, or parents should contact our league offices at wisconsingirlsrugby@gmail.com

It was great to see a lot of WGR alumni continuing their experience with collegiate women's rugby. Alumni girls were all over the fields at last weekend's Midwest Collegiate Chamionships in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin. Midwest D1 Champs, Univ-Northern Iowa had two freshman, Kaisse '11 from Brookfield and Talia '11 from KM respectively, starting on their team. The Midwest D2 champs likewise featured a starting freshman scrumhalf from Vernon and a wing from CMHS. Grand Valley St, third in Midwest D2 also featured a starting scrumhalf from CMHS. We probably missed some, but it was great to see so many young ladies continuing to play!

Press on the State Championship

Several local papers covered the Wisconsin Girls Rugby State Championships last week. While the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was poor in its coverage of the event, especially compared to past years, some local papers added some more detailed articles about the big event.


The Fond Du Lac Reporter, provided this article on our northern-most team's particpation.

The Express News, provided perhaps the most detailed article on the match and details about the solid program built in Menomonee Falls.

The Oak Creek Patch added a nice summary of their big game here.

and the Milw. Journel Sentinel provided at least a mention of the results, in addition to the previous week's preview.

The interest in rugby generated around our local communities by having long-standing girls programs continues to grow. Ten years ago, coverage was scare and attendance mediocre. Last week's tournament filled the park and the parking lot, and generated the most notice of any event to this date. In fact, the event has grown so much that moving locations to a facility with greater capacity is being discussed.

Legislative Update for Youth Coaches

State Representative Jason Fields (Milw) is the author of Assembly Bill 259, which would require schools to take student athletes off the field for practices and games if they suspect they have a concussion. The bill was approved by the State Assembly on November 5th, 2011 and is awaiting the next step in the legislative process. One provision of the bill is that student athletes would not be allowed to return to action until a medical professional clears them.

The debate among lawmakers has centered around whether the state should be involved in legislating youth sports directives or whether these issues should be left to youth sports organizations and parents. Some are arguing that the bill rightfully takes the burden of responsibiilty off of coaches, and places it in the hands of parents and medical professionals. Others say, the area is too murky to legislate, since medical professionals seem to treat this issue in a whole variety of ways.

For more information on the Wisconsin initiative to inform and prevent head injuries, check out Play Smart Wisconsin

State Final 2011

(picture 1: DSHA JV vs Brookfield)
(picture 2: CMHS v DSHA)

Sunday afternoon, Divine Savior Holy Angels High School won the Wisconsin Girls Rugby State Championship, 17-0 against Catholic Memorial High School of Waukesha.

Coach Klein, of DSHA, said afterwards, "that might've been the greatest high school game ever played in the state. The first half was so tight, back and forth. The speed of the game was impressive."

"I don't think people appreciated how hard-hitting that game was," he added. "That was as physical a match as we've ever played."

Catholic Memorial came out fast from the kickoff and preceded to hammer away at the Dasher's defense. Despite long periods of pressure and possession in DSHA's half, the Dasher's defense held. DSHA had two chances to score on counter-attack breakaways, but a scrambling defense from CMHS was able snuff out the opportunity.

The teams entered the halftime break deadlocked at 0-0.

DSHA showed its character by coming out with renewed intensity from the break. A try two minutes in, sparked by a gigantic tackle-breaking run from senior Captain Aleja Ross, set the tone for the second half.

CMHS came right back from the kickoff, approaching the DSHA 22, but were repulsed after multiple phases. A try from sophomore Kayla Pavella put DSHA up 12-0, and then again DSHA found itself again backed up near their tryline. Great defense and a clearing kick kept their shutout intact and sophomore Beth Pakorny was able to cross over for one more try to end a wonderful match.

Crusader coach Waliszewski added afterwards, "We gave everything we had. I'm incredibly proud of our ladies for their character and determination to play as a team against the most challenging of opponents."

Kettle Moraine finished off another good year with a hard-earned victory in the bronze medal match. Senior Captain Andrea Mertins, switching to fullback for this match, was impressive in defense and attack.

On field two, Menomonee Falls defeated Oak Creek in the closest match of the day, 8-0, for the division two championship. Oak Creek showed great improvement over their earlier loss during the conference season, and with two teams playing in the division, seem to be building momentum for future success. Congrats to Falls on another good season.

State Tournament Results
Championship DSHA 17 Catholic Memorial 0
3rd Place KM 20 Vernon 0
5th Place DS JV 22 Brookfield 17

D2 1st Place MFalls 8 Oak Creek 0
3rd FD Lac ? Oak Creek JV
5th Tosa 57 Muskego 22

Championship Day and Photo Contest

Well, championship day has arrived. WGR will be updating scores by the end of the day.

In the meantime, the 2012 Photo Contest is in full swing, so snap some great pictures today while at the tournament. The winner will get a free t-shirt from the tournament.

Please submit photos by November 9th, as an email attachment. Send them to our staff at wisconsingirlsrugby@gmail.com

Playoff Matches and State Tourney Schedule

Division I
CMHS 44 Kettle Moraine O
CMHS JV 15 Wauwatosa 10
DSHA 73 Vernon 0
Division II
Menomonee Falls 83 Oak Creek B 0
Oak Creek 39 Fond Du Lac 5

On Saturday morning, DSHA ran in multiple tries against a young and rebuilding Vernon team. Vernon had some periods of sustained possession with repeated pick and go's, but they were unable to threaten DSHA's line. Senior Aleja Ross and junior Emily Van Bibber each put in a couple tries for the Dashers.

Sunday afternoon, the CMHS girls rugby team defeated Kettle Moraine in the other state semifinals, 44-0. In a match punctuated by long periods of possession by Kettle Moraine, Memorial was able to score off of a returned kick and long breaks.

The CMHS JV team defeated Wauwatosa 15-10. Tries by freshmen Lisdon Brannon, and sophomores Brittany Silas and Julie Else helped the Crusaders advance to (5-1) on their season.

Next Sunday, Oct 30th the State Championship Tournament is being held at Naga-Waukee Park in Delafield. The schedule is:

10:00am JV match D2: Muskego v Wauwatosa
11:15am D1 5th Place: D2 5th Place
DSHA II v Brookfield Fond Du Lac v Oak Creek II
12:30pm D1 3rd Place: D2: Championship
Kettle Moraine v Vernon Oak Creek v Menomonee Falls
2:00pm D1 Championship
DSHA v Catholic Memorial
3:30pm Awards Ceremony

Upcoming Playoff Matches

A quick guide to all games this coming weekend:

10/22 Saturday
Vernon @ DSHA 10am Dretzka Park

10/23 Sunday
Kettle M @ CMHS 1pm Minooka
Tosa @ CMH JV 230pm Minooka

Oak Creek @ Fond Du Lac Noon
OAk Creek B @ MFalls 1pm