Team rebounds strongly after recent loss
The Eastern women’s rugby team has come back strong since losing its first game in nearly three years.
Since then, Eastern (5-1) has won two consecutive games with a combined score of 80-0.
One thing the Panthers have changed in the last two weeks is having the whole team practice together.
For the first four weeks of the season Eastern was splitting its practices between two groups.
The Panthers started this way because head coach Frank Graziano does not have an assistant coach this year. He said it gave him the opportunity to spend more time with individual players.
Also, he said he likes having the team all together because then they know where everyone is going to be and they know how it will look in a game situation.
Having the team practice together has had its benefits but another key contributor to the recent success is the breaking down of game film.
Graziano has been running the players through a lot of film and he said it has been showing on the field.
He said he knows the team is young and inexperienced but said watching film has definitely shown some improvement and the more they watch, the better they should get.
“Maybe that’s what this group needs,” Graziano said. “They have to watch it a couple times and then do it in a game before they get it.
They might have to fumble through a couple times before they get it right.”
The Panthers will continue to watch game film and hope they continue to get better as they face two strong opponents in Michigan and Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Unfamiliar territory
The loss to Grand Valley State two weeks ago was a first for 20 of the 22 players on the team.
Only senior’s Kristy Young and Emily Harrison were on the team when Eastern lost to Indiana in 2007. That team went on to win its final six games of the season and the winning streak eventually turned into 29 straight games.
Bob Shaughnessy can be reached at 581-7944 or
Team rebounds strongly after recent loss
Junior scrum-half Narissa Ramirez passes the ball before getting tackled by two Minnesota players at Lakeside Field Sunday. Eastern beat the Golden Gophers 46-0. (Kenji Ohseki
