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Fighting Penguins will play for Division II national title
BY ZACH GRILL
STATESMAN STAFF WRITER
iISSUE: 78/28
The UMD Fighting Penguins women’s rugby club will be playing for the Women’s Collegiate Division II national championship on Saturday, May 3 at Stanford University in California. The Penguins returned to Duluth Monday after winning the first- and second-round games of the tournament in Albuquerque, N.M. “It was like a dream,” said senior Nicole Benjamin. “There were 48 teams there, and ESPN even covered one of the fields.”
The national media coverage wasn’t the only thing that caught the eyes of the team. The change in scenery from Duluth was fairly extreme. “There was brown dirt all around, and then, there were these eight green rugby fields,” said senior Jamie Zarembinski. “It was in the middle of the desert. It was awesome.”
UMD defeated Western Washington University, 34-17, in the first round and followed that up with a 32-14 victory over Claremont College. “The competition was pretty much what we expected,” said Benjamin. “But, we were definitely the biggest team there, like height and size.”
Team members noticed a drastic difference in size and style during their semi-final game against Claremont. It was so noticeable that their coach jokingly compared their opponents to a tennis team. “They were a lot smaller than us,” Benjamin said. Size wasn’t the only difference between the two teams. Their styles of play were also very contrasting. “They had the speed, but we had the size. The pure strength and muscle,” said senior Elyse Dornhecker.
Although the competition was tough, the Penguins believe that their biggest adversary was the change in climate. “The altitude, heat and dry conditions were probably our biggest problem,” said Dornhecker. The high temperature and dry air forced the Penguins to use some interesting techniques to keep their bodies from overheating. “We had all these cold towels to keep cool, and the other teams were like ‘What the heck are they doing?’” said Zarembinski. “We had to explain to them that we are from a frozen tundra.”
Waiting for the Penguins in the championship match will be Shippensburg University from Pennsylvania. Shippensburg upset two-time reigning champions, the University of California-Santa Cruz, in the semi-finals to advance to the title game. “We talked to them down there [in Albuquerque], and they seemed cool,” Benjamin said. “They have never been there either.”
The team is looking to get some more fundraising done before heading to California next week. They are planning a spaghetti feed and are also hoping to do some fundraising at a tournament this weekend in St. Cloud. “Some other teams in the area have been helping us out, and that’s been real cool,” Benjamin said. “We still need more though, so keep your eyes peeled for fundraiser flyers.”
