Saturday’s game between Washington State and Central Washington is one of two that will essentially decide the Pacific Mountain North conference. The pair are the best DI women's teams in the region – one, the reigning champion; the other, the upstart challenger. The sides played an early-season friendly, and while both wrote off the lopsided result, it lent insight into their personnel, and as importantly, into their top rival's potential.

“We were still experimenting with lots of different line-ups and trying to get all our new girls playing time,” WSU president and captain Anne Peterson said. “We have a very new team this year with almost 25 new girls. All these factors contributed to a general lack of structure during our first game against CWU. Since our first match we have developed so much as a team. We now have a much better idea of the game structure we want to play as a team, and as individual players know what we need to do to contribute to our team’s success.”

Peterson will be the most experienced player on the field Saturday. While there will be other All Americans on both sides of the ball, the flyhalf is the only one with Eagle caps.

“Anne Peterson is a talented and experienced rugby player and started the match at 10, opposite Cassidy Meyers, which was a great match-up,” Central Washington coach Mel Denham reflected on the Sept. 27 friendly. “Anne was able to find some gaps in our defense and capitalize on opportunities, which we definitely had to adjust to. She is a great player."

Speedy flanker Gaby Drllevich and outside center Sammie Pedersen also found some line-breaking success and have been great role models for the slew of newcomers.

“We were also fortunate to recruit some very athletic new girls who have picked up the sport very quickly,” Peterson said. “When watching some of the girls such as Maddie Holmes and Alex Denzinger, you wouldn't believe they only first started playing rugby two months ago.”

WSU beat Oregon 24-14 and Washington 63-0 in November for a 2-0 record in league. Central Washington is also 2-0, defeating Washington 88-0 and Oregon State 68-0, but the 22-17 win over visiting Quinnipiac was more indicative of the team’s strength. Peterson suspects as much and knows her team must be on point Saturday.

“Central is a very physical team filled with lots of talent,” Peterson said. “It is going to be important that our team continues to play and push for the full 80 minutes on Saturday. We are going to have to be diligent with our tackles and at the breakdowns to avoid letting their strong runners break through our defensive line.”

And Central has plenty of them, many of which are familiar from various All American assemblies and tours: Nate Serevi, Cassidy Meyers, the Pinson sisters, Ashley Rolsma, Suli Tausinga and Fina Toetuu, among others. But with every game, a new name pops up the to-watch list, like Cameron Devereux, a 6'2" sophomore who scored five tries against Oregon State last weekend.

“Over the season I have been really impressed with the entire team, returners and incomers alike,” Central Washington coach Mel Denham said. “Jenny Johnson from Kent, Washington, has been especially surprising. I continuously forget that she started playing rugby less than a year ago.  As a crossover basketball athlete who fell in love with rugby, she is learning quickly and has been a great addition to the team.”

The Wildcats are putting the pieces together a little quicker than Washington State, but Central Washington isn't so well developed that it can afford to look past WSU.

"Knowing last year Washington State led the North division of the Pacific Mountain conference, we are preparing for a great challenging match," Denham said. "We are not getting ahead of ourselves though, and view this match as another step in our growth and development as a team."

The game goes down in Ellensburg, Wash., CWU's home pitch. Stay tuned for results.