The national spotlight is nothing new for women's rugby co-captain Keisha Carlson '08. She has led the team to a 3-0 start this season after qualifying for nationals last season. But, she says, it still takes times to get used to the limelight.
"Personally for me, it is absolutely surreal," Carlson said. "I am so honored to be a leader on this team regardless of our ranking, but being top five in the country just makes me unbelievably proud."
The Bears have had a dominating start to the season, beating Dartmouth 34-0, Vassar College 36-21 and Harvard 57-0.
Even with shutouts against Dartmouth and Harvard, Carlson considers the win over rival Vassar on Sept. 29 to be the most critical game so far this season.
"Beating Vassar 36-21 was a huge highlight," Carlson said. "We lost a very disappointing game to them last spring, and to come back and prove ourselves felt amazing."
In its matchup with Vassar last month, Brown jumped out to a 14-0 halftime lead and never looked back. The Bears started the second half with even more vigor, running through Vassar's defense with ease. Scores by prop Andi Payne '10 were followed by two touchdowns from center Emilie Bydwell '08, putting the Bears up 31-0 midway through the second half.
"It was sweet," said Head Coach Kerrissa Heffernan of the game. "Vassar was ranked higher than us and we beat them soundly in all phases of the game."
The rugby season starts in the fall and resumes in the spring. The team will compete in the New England Rugby Football Union playoffs at the end of October and the Northeast Rugby Union playoffs in November. In April, the team will play in the Ivy League Tournament. Matches are dispersed throughout both the fall and spring.
As defending Ivy League champions, the Bears are looking to repeat their recent success. With highly ranked Army and Vassar joining the NERFU this season, the Bears will have to take on stronger competition to defend their title.
"We lost to Army in the Northeast Championship last fall and they are the biggest obstacle in our way to winning (NRU) and going back to nationals," Carlson said. "I know we have the talent and the drive to beat them and we would love to do that."
The team would secure a return trip to nationals by placing in the top two in the NRU tournament.
"A big goal is to qualify for nationals again," co-captain Kristen Sylvester '08 said. "We're working every game to try to put things together and really click as a team so that we keep improving over the course of the season."
Bydwell is a two-time All-American and a women's hockey captain. The NERFU's leader in scoring agreed with Sylvester's goals.
"I just hope that I can work hard to contribute my part and use my experience to help our team," Bydwell said. "(Hopefully we'll) win the big games we need to to return to the national championships again this season."
The Bears' 15-person starting lineup is made up of mostly upperclassmen along with four sophomores.
"The team is fairly experienced this season," Sylvester said. "We did lose a lot of strong players to graduation, especially in the scrum, but luckily we had some younger players ready to step up."
Sylvester said she was especially impressed by the new players. "One thing that stands out in my mind is the strength of our new rookie class and how well they're playing already" she said.
Most new players have no previous rugby experience, which is common for most teams.
"It is not unusual to have players with very little to no experience coming in because high school rugby is limited in this country," Carlson said. "Often players from Canada or overseas have some rugby experience, as do a few players from the States lucky enough to live in regions with high school rugby."
At Brown, the rugby team is an intercollegiate club sport and the coaches are unpaid. The team has to schedule its own buses, make its own hotel reservations and set up the fields.
With higher expectations, the rugby team will continue its regional play when its hosts Yale tomorrow at 11 a.m.
"Brown has worked hard to be become the team to beat in the Northeast," Bydwell said. "We will move forward through the rest of the year continuing to raise the bar with every game we play."
