It was a day filled with emotion as the Eastern women’s rugby team defeated a Midwest College All-Stars by a score of 83-5 on Saturday to finish their season with a record of 10-0.

With the win, the Eastern women’s rugby team clinched their second consecutive undefeated season, while also extending the program-best winning streak to 26 games.

Prior to the game five members of the Eastern women’s rugby squad were honored for their time in the rugby program. Eastern seniors included Chase Cain, Ashley Jenkins, Crystal Jones, and Stephanie Militello. Tiffany Kennedy was also a part of the pre-game ceremony because she is an early graduate.

Also, the game was played in an 11-on-11 format due to the fact that the Midwest College All-Star squad was missing some players.

Ashley Jenkins, a senior center, said that the experience of being a part of a team that completed their second consecutive undefeated season is something that she will never for forget.

“It’s really amazing,” Jenkins said. “Last year, it didn’t hit me that we went undefeated, but as soon as the game was over today, it’s ally became something that will be with me wherever I go.”

Despite not being on last year’s undefeated team, freshman Lauren Doyle said this year’s undefeated squad really believed in the concept of being a team.

“A lot of the juniors and seniors on the team have said that we are more of a complete team this year, with all of us playing together as one unit,” Doyle said.

Eastern head coach Frank Graziano said that he was very emotional win for the Eastern women’s rugby team.

“The team really played really well,” Graziano said. “Obviously, with it being senior day, the emotions were running really high. We really couldn’t hold the tears back all day long,”

Graziano said the emotions began to run high during Thursday night’s rugby practice, which was held under the lights of the football field.

“It kind of started on Thursday night with a couple of the girls getting emotional, knowing that this was their last Thursday night practice,” Graziano said. “Our team is very attached to one another and it showed throughout the season.

Graziano said for the rugby team to have a second consecutive undefeated season, it is a true showing of the determination that the players on the Eastern team have.

“While it looks good in the record books, there is just so much work that goes into doing something like that,” Graziano said. “We had countless practices at 6 a.m., in the rain and in the dark and what that means is that the players are really enjoying themselves and that they have put the effort, commitment, and toughness together to achieve our goals. I couldn’t be more proud of them, these accomplishments are really all theirs.”

Neil Schneider can be reached at 581-7944 or jnschneider@eiu.edu.