Fox Cities 44 SPASH 30
*The Iron Maiden’s score a famous first-ever victory in their first Fall 15s Conference season.
Bruisers 22 DSHA jv 21
Hamilton 46 Madison 0
-----CONFERENCE STANDINGS-----
The Jeff Noe Conference
DSHA 2-0
Green Bay 1-1
Fox Cities 1-1
SPASH 0-2
The Tony Oliver Conference*
Catholic Memorial 2-0
Hamilton 2-1
Bruisers 2-1
DSHA jv 0-2
Madison 0-2
After two weeks of conference play, play shifts towards mid-season form. To replace Greenfield HS in the Jeff Noe Conference, coaches and league administrators have been working on developmental matches with our friends to the north and south.
Minnesota, which used to have a robust 15's girls rugby league, drives down to Milwaukee this Saturday for a developmental non-conference matchup with DSHA. It's encouraging to see coaches willing to do this. Minnesota Youth Rugby has been struggling with numbers since before Covid, going from 15's down to 10s and 7s. The first ever Wisconsin girls high school matches occurred in 1996 when a girls team from Wayzata HS, MN drove down to play DSHA. Wayzata, MN is the only other team besides CMH or DSHA to win the Midwest Girls HS Championship. Perhaps it's serendipitous that now Minnesota drives down in an attempt to get 15's rugby played again up north. DSHA is hoping to build more developmental relationships with programs from nearby Chicago this fall. With a couple single school Chicago teams having played at Nationals last spring, these programs share some similar goals and experiences. Stay tuned, hopefully, for more girls rugby development and opportunities to play.
Update: As the Scotsman Robert Burns said, "the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray" Minnesota Youth Girls Rugby was not able to get enough players to travel this weekend and as a result the scrimmage has been put on hold. Cheers to organizers for their enthusiasm In the meantime, we'll see if the Green Bay league match is able to be rescheduled, seeing as each team has a bye week in addition to the hole in schedules from Greenfield stepping down from competitive play.
-----CONFERENCE STANDINGS-----
The Jeff Noe Conference
DSHA 2-0
Green Bay 1-1
SPASH 0-1
Fox Cities 0-1
The Tony Oliver Conference*
Catholic Memorial 2-0
Hamilton 1-1 (holds tie breaker over Bruisers)
Bruisers 1-1
DSHA jv 0-1
Madison 0-1
Week 3 Saturday Sept 28th
Bruisers @ DSHA JV 930am Brown Deer Park
Hamilton HS @ Madison Furies 10am Cottage Grove
Stevens Point Area HS @ Fox Cities 10am Greenville Lions Park
Bye: Green Bay and CMH
The second weekend of conference play kicks off Saturday morning. The Hamilton vs CMH game will give everyone a good idea of the conference title contenders.
Week Two:
Hamilton 5 at CMH 36. 2pm Minooka Park
Bruisers 41 at Madison 5 10am Nashotah Park
DSHA 118 at SPASH 0 10am 600 Maria Dr
Fox Cities 0 at Green Bay 92 10am Barney Williams Park
-----CONFERENCE STANDINGS-----
The Jeff Noe Conference
DSHA 2-0
Green Bay 1-1
SPASH 0-1
Fox Cities 0-1
The Tony Oliver Conference*
Catholic Memorial 2-0
Hamilton 1-1 (holds tie breaker over Bruisers)
Bruisers 1-1
DSHA jv 0-1
Madison 0-1
Week 3 Saturday Sept 28th
Minnesota @ DSHA 1130am Brown Deer Park*
Non conference match.
Bruisers @ DSHA JV 930am Brown Deer Park
Hamilton HS @ Madison Furies 10am Cottage Grove
Stevens Point Area HS @ Fox Cities 10am Greenville Lions Park
Sacred Heart University's Aly Cunningham (Catholic Memorial '21), pictured above, scored 15 of her team's 20 points in their big NCAA Division 1 matchup against Harvard University, the Defending D1 NCAA Champions. She scored a try, two penalty kicks, and two conversion kicks. Harvard won with a late try 25-20.
Army (NCAA D1) faces Oxford University women's rugby next Wednesday as part of their USA Fall International Tour. DSHA's Yesenia Morales (DS '23) has started at 13 for the Cadets since her arrival, while also attending a USA camp this summer.
Starting lock Maddie Kosmoski (Catholic Memorial '23) scored a try in Bowdoin University's (NCAA D3) victory over New Haven. Video of Maddie's try below:
In addition, while Lander University has moved down from NCAA to the NCR Division, freshman Grace Beatty's (Hamilton HS '24) team made their debut, defeating the women's club team at South Carolina handily.
A full slate of matches appears on this week’s schedule for WGR while league admin work to figure out any adjustments needed with the announcement that Greenfield will not field a competitive team this fall. In a positive development, a dozen players from the Monona Grove girls team are linking up with the Furies to field a competitive 15s side. They’ll debut this week against the Bruisers. Best of luck to the Fox Cities. Girls team as they make their debut against Green Bay.
DSHA jv has a bye week.
Week Two:
Hamilton (1-0) at CMH (1-0) 10am Minooka Park
Bruisers (0-1) at Madison (0-0) 10am Nashotah Park
DSHA (1-0) at SPASH (1-0) 10am 600 Maria Dr
Fox Cities (0-0) at Green Bay (0-1) 10am Barney Williams Park
After weeks of practices and preparation, the WGR Conference season begins this upcoming Saturday. Madison and Fox Cities have a bye-week. Each week, one team from each conference has a bye.
Week One: (League Opening Weekend) Saturday Sept 14th
Green Bay @ DSHA Brown Deer Park*
*Green Bay has forfeited their debut match.
Catholic Memorial 39 @ DSHA JV 0
5-0 at half.
11am Brown Deer Park
Hamilton 50 @ Bruisers 7
10am Nashotah Park
Greenfield @Stevens Point^
^GF is unable to field a competitive team this fall. Stay tuned for an updated schedule and decisions from WGR leadership. It is unclear at this time if GF matches will be scored forfeits.
-----CONFERENCE STANDINGS-----
The Jeff Noe Conference
DSHA (1-0)
Green Bay (0-1)
Fox Cities
Greenfield
Stevens Point
The Tony Oliver Conference*
Catholic Memorial 1-0
Hamilton 1-0
Bruisers 0-1
DSHA jv 0-1
Madison
*Named in honor of Tony Oliver, the founding coach of both Oak Creek HS girls rugby and Homestead girls rugby who was tragically killed while bicycle riding.
News & Notes:
Last weekend's NIRA NCAA matches set a new record for WGR alumni participating. DSHA alone had five girls playing in NIRA matches, a high for their program.
Melanie Sanchez, #8 at Quinnipiac, was awarded a game ball in their tie against Harvard.
Megan Finerty started at #2 in Navy's 59-5 victory over D2 Frostburg St (a newer start-up program). Scout Spadoni of SPASH had a strong game for Frostburg St as the opposition number eight, scoring their lone try on the day.
The new Greenfield team makes their league debut with a long road trip up to Stevens Point. What they don't know yet is that SPASH's program are always GREAT hosts, laying out a most hospitable spread of food & hospitality for their guests at every home match. It should be a special start to their rugby experience and everyone is excited for them to experience the camaraderie and tradition of WGR.
The Green Bay Banshees have made the difficult decision to not play their first match, forfeiting the result.
The 2024 Wisconsin Girls Rugby State Finals shift their State Championship Tournament to Hart Park in downtown Wauwatosa. As home to semi pro soccer, multiple high school football programs, and lacrosse teams, Hart Park offers a 4,900 capacity facility with lights, concessions, restrooms, and the parking to handle large athletic events. This is a high-profile venue. With an artificial turf surface and wider playing area, expect the games to be played at a furious pace. (the staff at LLR predict scoring will be up at all matches at the state finals this year).
With a great variety of restaurants and bars within short walking distance, it should add even more to the fun of the full-day tournament. There are over 30 establishments within a two mile radius.
The State Finals will be held Sunday Oct 27th, 2024.
