Women’s Rugby
The UCSD women’s rugby team finished its hugely successful season with a showing at the Women’s Rugby Nationals Tournament in Florida over the weekend.
UCSD advanced to the Elite Eight by upsetting the University of Virginia. However, UCSD’s championship aspirations were stopped in the next round by an Air Force team.
The rugby squad entered the tournament undefeated for the season, vastly improved from its modest third-place ranking last year. The strength of several intense and talented rookies combined with the influence of a few new coaches to revitalize the squad.
In the humid Florida weather, UCSD, seeded 13th, battled to a 21-15 victory over the fourth-seeded UV on Saturday.
UCSD’s tenacity carried it through the entire game, evidenced by Tiki Hayes, who scored while playing on a broken foot. UCSD was also led by Kirstin King, who contributed multiple penalty kicks, including one from the mid-line to ensure the UCSD win.
Yet UCSD was stopped cold by its next opponent, Air Force, which pinned a 31-3 loss on UCSD behind the strength of its superior conditioning.
Despite the loss, UCSD’s outlook remained positive for a team that had never played in Florida or against the other teams in the tournament.
“”Pretty much everyone had a hand in the success of the team,”” said captain Melissa Ho. “”Next year, we’re shooting for the championship.””
With many returning for next year, as well as the services of this year’s coach “”Hoova”” Smith, a 16-year rugby veteran, and assistant Barbie Fontaine, next year is looking pretty good for the UCSD women’s rugby team.
Women’s Lacrosse
The UCSD women’s lacrosse team ended its season on a high note, beating Loyola Marymount University 10-7 on the road.
Senior Maggie Scales scored four goals and captain Megan Wemmer netted a hat trick. Lindsey Reeves, Jen Low and Lacy Hatfield each contributed a goal to help give seniors the win in their last game.
DanceSport
The UCSD dancesport team competed at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas annual Desert Challenge last weekend and for the first time in 11 years took first place in the medley dance category. UCSD finished ahead of UNLV, Utah Rhythm and Dance, and two Arizona State teams.
Individual team members had a strong showing in couples events as well. In the gold single dance category, Pam Thomas and John Stillwagen took third in the cha-cha, fifth in the rumba and second in the samba.
They were followed by Jessica Beitch and Pany Haritatos, who placed fourth in the cha-cha, third in the samba and second in the rumba.
In the bronze single cha-cha event, Greg Emmanuel and Jennifer Kanchukova grabbed fifth place, and Michael Scarpelli and Rene Link finished in eighth place.
In novice multi-dance, Patrick Chen and Alejandra Valenzuela finished second, and Chen also placed third in the novice American rhythm competition with Tracy Hajkowski. Beitch and Haritatos took fifth in the pre-champ multi-dance, while Stillwagen and Thomas came in sixth.
Badminton
The UCSD badminton team posted wins against Cal Tech and UCLA last weekend to push into first place in the league.
UCSD dominated Cal Tech 13-2 behind the strong play of Dede Davis and Stephanie Obayashi.
UCLA provided more of a challenge for UCSD, but it wasn’t enough as UCSD ended on the happy side of a 9-6 score. Besides the integral play of Davis and Obayashi again, Noreen Jue and Jo-Ann Lin were key in the victory, posting two upset wins over their opponents.
Upcoming Events
Friday, April 26
Dancesport competes in the Stanford Challenge in Palo Alto, Calif.
Saturday, April 27
Cycling has a two-day event at UC Davis: the WCCC Championships.
Sailing competes in the two-day Dinghy PCCS in Honolulu, Ha.
Waterski competes at Sacromento State for a two-day event.
Men’s and women’s Ultimate have their Regional competitions this weekend in Santa Cruz, Calif.
–Compiled by Isaac Pearlman
Sports Editor
