Women get a win, men a loss in rugby

Hunter Kiburz, Staff Writer

The Wayne State College women’s rugby team won its game and the men’s team lost against both its opponents this past weekend.

The women crushed their opponent Central Missouri 74-17. The Wildcats had some key plays to go along with the defeat, having back to back try in the first 10 minutes into the second half.

“As a team, yes, we watch film to critique and we have practice every day to mechanically fix our mistakes,” said freshman Michaela Derickson. “We keep winning against tough-ranked opponents, so we are definitely doing stuff right.”

The ’Cats have momentum going into the Sweet Sixteens on Nov. 11 and 12 in Wayne.

“A lot of preparation is going into those games so we can go to Atlanta for Regionals,” said Derickson.

The Wildcat women improved their record to 14-0 on the season this weekend and have allowed only two teams to score on them this year.

The men’s rugby team played a combined team of the University of Nebraska-Omaha and the semi-pro rugby team from Omaha, the Omaha Goats, in a game of 15 on 15.

After that, they played Western Iowa Tech Community College in a few games of 7 on 7 in Wayne last Saturday.

“The team, as a whole, has been getting better each and every week, whether it’s playing against large enrollment colleges like (the University of Nebraska-Lincoln) or University of Iowa,” freshman Dustin Pickel said. “(We’re) playing exhibition games versus semi-pro teams in the close vicinity, therefore we are all able to get some playing time and experience to improve each and every week.”

The Wildcats had issues with tackling, ball security and predicting the opponent’s next move earlier in the year, but they seem to have fixed those mistakes with more playing time and help from coaches.

The ’Cats will face Creighton this Saturday in Omaha. The winner will be crowned the Great Plains Champions and move into the national playoff rounds.