By Jackie Finlan
Bloomsburg and Kutztown have dominated the DII Mid-Atlantic Rugby Conference (MARC) the last few years, but there may be a new contender this season.
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Temple, a former DII national champion, has struggled since its promotion to DI, return to DII and multiple coaching changes, but a two-point loss to the Huskies last weekend signaled that there is some change afoot.
“The culture has changed a lot, not necessarily for the better,” said Temple head coach and former Owl Justin Muldoon, who compared the team’s former heights to 2017, when he took over the women’s team. “Rugby had become more of a hobby, so a big focus this year was rebuilding a culture that is team-oriented and big on personal responsibility and work ethic.”
Irish Inspiration
Muldoon and team got through last season and then met Notre Dame head coach Ricardo Ramirez at the CRC 7s. Muldoon was impressed with the Irish’s program inside and out, and remodeled Temple with Notre Dame in mind. The cultural shift meant that several veterans did not return this season, but the growth-minded ones did. Muldoon credits president Abigail Oestreich, match secretary Maddy Morley (c), recruitment/retention chair Emily Woods, treasurer Noemi Von Holden and social chair Maria Brewster with the progress that has been made.
The most noticeable boon is in the numbers. The roster is double the size it was last year, when 17 players showed to games and sometimes single digits arrived at practice. Today, everyone wants to be at training and is working hard, and intrasquad scrimmages are readying newcomers for starting positions.
“If you look at our starting lineup against Bloomsburg … nine of them had never picked up a rugby ball before September,” Muldoon said. “We got a couple of transfers who have been good pick-ups, but our freshmen are monsters. Their tackling is out of this world, and I swore they were lying to me when they said they never played before.”
The Victories Start Coming
After defeating East Stroudsburg 15-0 in the season-opener, Muldoon attempted to set expectations for Bloomsburg, which had defeated Temple 105-5 this time last year. That 2017 game was Muldoon’s first as head coach.
“I told them that Bloomsburg was going to be one of the top competitors we see all season,” Muldoon said. “[Sarah Van Cise and Selena Fernandez] are two of the league’s top backs, and that whole back line is hard-running and aggressive in the rucks. They always go for the poach, they run switches and loops and throw stiff-arms. Having these backs new to the game, I knew they’d be shocked, so we had to practice counter-rucking and sealing offensive rucks so the scrumhalf could get clean ball.”
Bloomsburg established an early lead that it never relinquished, but Temple accounted for the final three scores to finish a conversion shy of the Huskies, 24-22.
“I told them every five seconds how proud I was of them,” Muldoon said of whether the near-win landed with the team. “Our biggest takeaway was that our set pieces have to get better; we got bullied in the scrums. But our defense was amazing. And our 14 [Alizee Baribaud], who picked up a rugby ball this month, scored two huge tries. But the whole team stepped up, and so did the subs when they came on. … I think there’s a lot of excitement around what our team can be, especially from those vets who returned from last year.”
Muldoon indicated that nothing has really changed within the squad itself – the team has already been working hard and continues to do so – but the outlook on the season has shifted slightly.
“We definitely put some stretch goals in there,” Muldoon looked ahead. “But the biggest thing this season is retention. We want people to feel welcomed and enjoy rugby first – that’s the most important and why I coach.”
Temple has an important game against Kutztown this weekend, and that game will lend some more perspective to the league. MARC has typically received 2-3 seeds to the DII Fall Round of 32 (Nov. 11-12), and the top four teams overall will advance to the Dec. 1-2 Fall Championship, which FloRugby will live-stream. More info to come.