WGR Conference Week Two 2023 (10/7/23)

Week 3:  Oct 7th WGR Conference Round-Two:

A full slate of 15's matches coming up this weekend.  With only three conference matches for each team, conference leaders should be clear after this week.

DSHA JV @ Hamilton HS    10am  Nashotah Park

  Tied:  DSHA JV 31  Hamilton HS 31 (score unconfirmed.  DSHA was up 31-10)

DSHA       @Bruisers             12pm Nashotah Park

   DSHA 29  Bruisers 0 (fft)

CMHS       @Green Bay         10am Barney Williams Field (Howard, WI)

   CMH 22 Green Bay 19 (CMH reportedly scored twice in the last 5 minutes to pull off a dramatic win.  GB reportedly played down a player)

Pulaski JV  @Green Bay & CMH JV    12pm Barney Williams Field

Madison/Muskego  @Stevens Points Area HS   11am  (at 600 Maria Drive)

  SPASH 58  Mad/Muskego 0

 WGR Conference Standings Fall 15's 2023 (only includes conference records)

Jeff Noe Conference

Divine Savior Holy Angels HS 2-0

Catholic Memorial HS 1-1 (CMH holds the very important head-to-head tie breaker over GB)

Green Bay 1-1

Bruisers 0-2

Tony Oliver Conference

Divine Savior Holy Angels JV 1-0-1

Hamilton HS  1-0-1

Stevens Point Area HS  1-1

Madison/Muskeg HS Co-op  0-2

JV Developmental Programs

Pulaski 

In Development

Fox Cities Iron Maidens  (contact: jawalt16@yahoo.com)

    To debut Spring 2024

October 14th, 2023 Week Four: 

A look ahead.  Check back to confirm times as they are partly based on ref availability.

Green Bay @ DSHA                      1030am  Greenfield HS

DSHA jv    @Muskego-Madison   1145am  Greenfield HS

DSHA jv2   vs Pulaski 7s               1pm        Greenfield HS

Bruisers      @ Catholic Memorial  10am     Minooka Park

2023 WGR Conference Openers this Weekend (9/30)

After two weeks of non-conference matches to help teams gain experience and bring new players along, it's time for matches to start counting towards standings.  Kudos to league organizers for focusing on developing young players and valuing growth with the league structure this fall.  Word on the street is that several teams have continued to gain new players these last two weeks as school ramps up and word spreads.  Hamilton HS has reportedly gotten around the 30 player mark with some new recruits since school started.  This flexibility and being-open-to-growth fuels strong leagues.

On to the conference openers this weekend:

The league jumps right in to some HUGE matchups with the DSHA varsity taking on long-time rival Catholic Memorial.

Green Bay playing the Bruisers features one of the older programs in the league (Bruisers) against one of the youngest up and coming programs (Green Bay).

and where will DSHA JV finish in conference this year?  With a strong core of returning players, DSHA jv versus SPASH should give us a good idea of how that conference may play out.

Week 2: Sept 30th WGR Conference Match Openers 

Stevens Point Area HS (0-1)  @ DSHA JV (1-0)            1030am  at Brown Deer Park

    SPASH 7  DSHA JV 27

Catholic Memorial HS (1-0)  @ DSHA (1-0)          12pm     at Brown Deer Park

   CMHS 0   DSHA 50

Muskego/Madison (0-1)        @ Hamilton HS (0-1) 945am  at Nashotah Park

   Musk/Madison 0   Hamilton HS 48

Pulaski JV (0-0)                     @ Hamilton JV (0-0) 1100am at Nashotah Park

Green Bay (1-0)                     @Bruisers (0-1)         1145am at Nashotah Park

    Green Bay 54    Bruisers 7

SPASH has a bye week.

Week 3:  Oct 7th WGR Conference Round-Two (a look ahead)

DSHA JV @ Hamilton HS    10am  Nashotah Park

DSHA       @Bruisers             12pm Nashotah Park

CMHS       @Green Bay         10am Barney Williams Field (Howard, WI)

Pulaski JV  @Green Bay & CMH JV    12pm Barney Williams Field

Madison/Muskego  @Stevens Points Area HS   10am  (at 600 Maria Drive)

 WGR Conference Standings Fall 15's 2023

Jeff Noe Conference

Divine Savior Holy Angels HS 1-0

Green Bay  1-0

Bruisers 0-1

Catholic Memorial HS 0-1

Tony Oliver Conference

Divine Savior Holy Angels JV 1-0

Hamilton HS  1-0

Madison/Muskeg HS Co-op  0-1

Stevens Point Area HS  0-1

JV Developmental Programs

Pulaski 

In Development

Fox Cities Iron Maidens  (contact: jawalt16@yahoo.com)

    To debut Spring 2024

WGR Sept 23rd Matches

Week 1:  Sept 23rd WGR Non-Conference & JV Matches

Brookfield (0-0) @ DSHA JV (0-0)                         10:00am  at Brown Deer Park

   Bruisers 7   DSHA jv 37

Stevens Points Area HS (0-0)  @ Green Bay (0-0)  11am  at Barney Williams Field in Howard, WI

    Green Bay 31 SPASH 0

Pulaski JV match vs SPASH & GB JV                     1230pm at Barney Williams Field

Week 2: Sept 30th WGR Conference Match Openers 

Stevens Point Area HS (0-1)  @ DSHA JV (1-0)            1030am  at Brown Deer Park

Catholic Memorial HS (1-0)  @ DSHA (1-0)          12pm     at Brown Deer Park

Muskego/Madison (0-1)        @ Hamilton HS (0-1) 945am  at Nashotah Park

Pulaski JV (0-0)                     @ Hamilton JV (0-0) 1100am at Nashotah Park

Green Bay (1-0)                     @Bruisers (0-1)         1145am at Nashotah Park

SPASH has a bye week.

 WGR Conference Standings Fall 15's 2023

Jeff Noe Conference

Bruisers

Catholic Memorial HS

Divine Savior Holy Angels HS

Green Bay

Tony Oliver Conference

Divine Savior Holy Angels JV

Hamilton HS

Madison/Muskeg HS Co-op

Stevens Point Area HS

JV Developmental Programs

Pulaski 

In Development

Fox Cities Iron Maidens  (contact: jawalt16@yahoo.com)

    To debut Spring 2024

WGR Opening Weekend: Non-Conference Matches Sept 16th

Saturday Sept 16th WGR Non-Conference Matches

Hamilton HS @ Catholic Memorial   9am    at Catholic Memorial HS

    Hamilton 0  Catholic Memorial 40

Muskego/Madision vs DSHA HS     11am    at Catholic Memorial HS

    Madison/Muskego 0  DSHA 75

A look ahead to Sept 23rd WGR Matches

Brookfield @ DSHA JV  1030am  at Brown Deer Park

Stevens Points Area HS @ Green Bay  11am  at Barney Williams Field in Howard, WI

Pulaski JV match vs SPASH & GB JV   1130am at Barney Williams Field

Wisconsin Girls Rugby Fall 2023 Conference Season Kicks-off Sept 16th

 The Wisconsin Girls Rugby (WGR) Fall State Championship season begins with a series of non-conference warm-up matches for the first two weekends of play beginning on Sept 16th.   

These matches do not count for conference standings and give the teams involved a chance to develop their teams for the upcoming 15's competition.

When league play begins on Sept. 30th, teams will only have three conference matches that will determine standings.  Conferences will have four teams in them which will lead to a semifinal playoff round Oct 21st at the Madison United Rugby Complex.  The State Championship will take place Sunday Oct 29th, 2023 at the Milwaukee County Sports Complex.

Non-conference Matches:         Sept 16th and Sept 23rd

Conference Matches:                Sept 30th-Oct 14th.

Playoff Semifinals:                   Oct 21st @Madison United Rugby in Cottage Grove

State Championship:                Oct 29th @The Milwaukee County Sports Complex

Girls National Tournament 2024 Date Set: May 18th-19th

 The annual Girls High School Rugby National Tournament is scheduled for the weekend of May 18th-19th, 2024.  Matches are played on Saturday with finals on Sunday.

Organisers are planning multiple tiers of competition including the opportunity for JV matches.

Fox Cities Girls Rugby & a WGR History of the Area

Fox Cities is an area of central-south-eastern Wisconsin nestled around the Fox River which flows north from Lake Winnebego, Wisconsin largest freshwater lake, up to Green Bay.

The Fox Cities area includes communities like Appleton, Kaukana, and Oshkosh.

This area has a long and rich history of womens and girls rugby. 

A little to the south lies Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin.  Using French for "the end of the lake", the community rests at the southern end of the huge Lake Winnebego.

In the late 90's a Penn St alumn named Angie Sellers started a women's adult club team in Fond Du Lac.  In the early days, this women's club played multiple games against DSHA HS girls when both programs were both starting.  While that would be unheard of today, opportunities for games for female teams were so few and far between that teams were creative and had to work together for friendly competition.  DSHA and others might not have survived had they not found ways to get matches. Fond Du Lac Women's rugby fielded a full 15s squad for several years, a note-able accomplishment in this era.

From there, the first Fond Du Lac girls high school team was formed in 2004.  At the very beginning they boasted a roster of around 40 players.  Traci Smet was an early leader of this effort.  For several years, hopes were high for this program.   Unfortunately, coaching changes contributed to a lack of consistency and their numbers faltered.  Some reported a lack of support from the men's community; others challenged that perception noting that the local men's club helped them use their field and equipment to train and that the team would not have gotten off to such a good start without such support.

While league records are spotty, it appears the Fond Du Lac team was dormant or essentially folded for a time until several years later when new leadership under Amanda Pohle (a WGR alum and eventual WGR President) led a resurgence of the program and renewed participation numbers.  The team competed for several years in WGR league play before folding for a second time.

As interest in the Fond Du Lac area waned or shifted geographically, a separate team emerged in Appleton, officially founded in 2013.  Under coaches like Patrick Harrington (now at UW-Platteville Women's Rugby) and AJ Wiesseler, they fielded a full-15's side that competed in league play for several seasons.  

The point of this is that history shows a long-standing, positive culture of female athletic participation in this part of Wisconsin; one that's led to a fast rise in teams in the area.  With consistent leadership and support, there's great potential for growth.  What remains to be solved is how to continue this female sports culture in the long-term.

To that end, the newly formed Fox Cities Girls High School team is aiming to compete in spring of 2024.  This girls team will be called the IRON MAIDENS.  Reports indicate that they have a strong class of middle school players coming through their flag rugby program.  They are expected to field a 7s team this spring and then a 15s team in Fall of 2024 bolstered by a strong group who they are anticipating graduating middle school.  

Anyone interested in playing or supporting them should contact their coach:

John Walt

jawalt16@yahoo.com