Women’s rugby coach Frank Graziano attends the IHSA high school state track and field meet at O’Brien Stadium each spring, recruiting players for the rugby squad.

When Graziano recruited Samantha Manto at the meet during her senior year at Conant High School, he noticed Manto’s competitive spirit.

“Obviously, at the state track meet, there are a lot of fast people there,” he said. “But I like to watch them compete. That’s one of the main things.”

But Graziano said speed is not always what he’s looking for when recruiting an athlete like Manto.

“The speed speaks for itself,” he said. “They wouldn’t be at the state high school track meet unless they were fast. I’m asking them to come into a sport that they know nothing about, so the competitive spirit is the thing they have to fall back on. I certainly was able to see all of that while Samantha was racing for her high school team. She really likes to compete.”

Manto has helped her team reach their current two-match winning streak against Ohio State and Oregon. In an Oct. 6, 108-3 blowout against Ohio State, she scored on six trys. The junior added two more trys in the Oct. 12 Oregon match.

Manto, the team’s leading scorer as a sophomore, appears to be well on her way to leading her team again this season. Through six matches, she leads the team with 23 trys.

From her wing position, her main duty is to score for her team.

“(As wings) we don’t do too much defensively,” she said. “We are like the last player to get the ball, so there’s a lot of running room to the outside. It would be like a running back in football, if you had to compare.”

Manto said the forwards carried last Friday’s game.

“The Oregon game was carried by the forwards,” she said. “We’ve been struggling in the backs a little bit, and the runs I made were necessary, but they were simply around the girl to the outside.”

She said the Panthers performed better against Ohio State.

“Ohio (State) was a complete team game,” Manto said. “The forwards and backs were intermingling and being creative. Right now, our team keeps going back and forth with good and bad performances.”

Manto also had to play fullback against Ohio State.

“It took a little getting used to, but it isn’t too different from (playing) wing,” she said. “I was happy with my performance in the game. I made a few good runs up the middle that got caught, but my scores on the outside were just speed runs (and came from) being in the right place at the right time.”

The Ohio State win was a key win for the Panthers.

“Ohio State seemed to be our turning point, but then, once again, we found ourselves out of rhythm in the Oregon game,” she said. “We just need to keep learning, keep our heads up, and have everyone do their job, and when that all comes together at the same time, it will just click.”

Part of that ‘clicking’ revolves around Manto and her ability to score with the ball, Graziano said.

“She’s outstanding with the ball in her hands,” he said. “She’s had to learn to kick on the run the past couple of years, but Samantha certainly is fantastic with the ball in her hands.”

The coach said Manto’s off-season preparation largely contributed to her success this season.

“One thing that I feel has helped get Sam off to a great start is that she prepared very well over the summer,” he said. “She came in very fit, very strong and very motivated to make the second half of her career even better than her first half. That’s half the battle, being able to come in mentally and physically prepared, and (Manto) was certainly all that this year entering the season.”

Manto still has the same goals as she did at the beginning of the season, but admitted losing is not an option with the standard the team has set for itself.

“We set such high expectations for ourselves,” she said. “A season (with) two losses out of six games – it isn’t a good season for us. My goal to my team is something coach Graziano told me once. (He said he wants players who will say), in a pressure situation, ‘Give me the ball and I will score.'”