Superwomen: The Marist Women's Rugby Team
By Caisi Hecht
Many of us have been asked, if you were to be a superhero, who would you be? Or what would your superpower be? For a select group of young women at Marist, their superpowers range from strength, to speed, to endurance, and much more. They are a group as strong as The Avengers, and each one is as powerful as Wonder Woman herself. They are MCWR.
The Marist College Women’s Rugby (MCWR) team was founded in 1996 and has exuded excellence ever since. Aside from just winning matches, championships, tournaments, and being nationally ranked throughout their history, the team is a tight knit group of young women that are always bettering themselves as a team and as individuals.
The group competes in the Tri-State Conference, playing other New York teams from colleges such as RPI, Siena, Vassar, and University of Albany. So far this fall season, the team has gone 3-2 in the conference and is now headed towards conference championships playoffs. They have earned their way to compete in the quarter-finals against Binghamton University, who they recently defeated 54-17.
MCWR is a very competitive team that pushes their opponents and ensures that they remember the MCWR name. The team began the season mastering their basic skills, and have now developed into a highly skilled lineup with a mix of experienced players and talented rookies.
Aside from just competition, the team also focuses on growing the game, building a strong community, and creating lifelong friendships. Joining a new sport can be especially hard when you’ve had little exposure to it before, but MCWR is an all inclusive group that turns players with no prior experience into rugby fanatics and experts.
“I was intimidated by the sport at first because I had seen it before and I thought I wouldn’t understand the rules,” said Camryn Lowndes, a current freshman on the team. “But as I continued to learn the game, I realized I underestimated myself. It’s exciting to see how much I can grow over my next four years.”
It’s this growth and learning together that really emphasizes the bond that the girls develop. “As they welcomed us more, it became more and more like a family” shared Izzy Dick, another current rookie, who has had some past rugby experience.
The best part may even be that this all-inclusive atmosphere takes girls of all different experiences, athletic backgrounds, skills, abilities, and personalities, and molds them together as one, unified team. Another rookie, Jordan Vozeh, commented, “Everyone on the team are all different people that all fit together.”
