Doylestown Girls came away from their trip to the Gonzaga Rugby Classic in Virginia as tournament champions.
The Pennsylvania team defeated Wando, Aspetuck, and Morris, allowing just the one try in the process.
“The focus for our team this year has really been on building the culture and unifying all of the players so that it is about the team as a whole and not just one or two standout individuals," said Doylestown Coach Stacy Mancuso. "You can see it play out on the field with unselfish play and the way the players are connecting. The players have put their trust in the coaching staff and truly give 100% at all practices to learn new systems of attack and sharpen contact skills. Our practices this year are more intense and physical than the past few years, and the players seem to be accepting of the new challenges presented.”
Doylestown opened up pool play on Saturday with a 42-7 defeat of Wando Wahines and followed that up with a 40-0 shutout of Aspetuck.
“The season started really well, with a record of 6-1," said co-captain Sienna Accardi, "and our goals going into the tournament were to execute at a high IQ level and to use this tournament to cement our team chemistry. Practice before the tournament was intense. We worked on our defensive shape and our structural skills.”
Co-captain Nolah Flynn added that Doylestown has overcome its lack of size and its youth with grit and passion.
"We beat each other up at practice with intense tackling drills and conditioning, but we put in the work because we understand that’s how we grow as a team and push one another to the next level," said Flynn. "We go through it all together, and we’re willing to leave everything out on the field for our teammates."
That toughness was on display against Aspetuck, which put Doylestown under pressure early and, said Flynn, had the Doylestown team panicking a little bit.
But when there was an injury timeout the players gathered together and regrouped.
"We trusted ourselves and our abilities as well as our teammates.," said Flynn. "Our team chemistry never looked better. We were able to make such a drastic turn around all by trusting in our preparation and connection with one another. I think that’s what makes our team such a threat: we understand each other's level of play so well and work so well as a unit.”
