Even though Humboldt State and UN Reno women's teams performed well at DII playoffs this year, the West Coast conference in its entirety struggled in 2015. Cancellations, forfeits, and weather issues made for an inconsistent season, and the distance by which teams must travel to play each other - ranging from Humboldt in the north and Fresno State in the south - further exacerbated opportunities for player development. So Humboldt coach Evi Ashenbrucker took action and formed the West Coast All-Conference team, a first for the competition.

"The objective is to elevate the play of women's collegiate rugby in our conference by exposing players to high-level coaching; building the camaraderie among different area teams by having them board and play with players from other teams; and produce a fun, proactive learning environment for outstanding athletes in our area," said Ashenbrucker, who will continue her coaching career with varsity Notre Dame College. "Being that our conference is so rural and spread out, we often struggle to find consistent competition, and/or face large travel costs and travel up to 10 hours one way to get to league matches. This camp and all-star program aims to provide girls in our areas with a way to build skills in spite of playing opportunities being quite limited here in this region."

Thirty-nine players representing six conference schools will join the DII Southern California Conference all-stars for a combined camp on July 11-12 in the San Francisco Bay Area. Saturday will be spent on technical and tactical skill work and classroom sessions. Sunday will see the group split into two teams and culminate in an official all-star match between California's top Division II collegiate players.

"We look forward to establishing a precedent with this program and continuing to provide much-needed opportunities to help the young women in our league develop into the best athletes they can be," Ashenbrucker concluded.