There are so many new, exciting things happening in women’s college rugby. Lindenwood seems to sign a High School All American every other day; Central Washington is heading to the DI spring semifinals in its first year as a varsity program; the Rocky Mountain 7s series has pulled isolated teams in the West into meaningful competition, among many other developments. The contours of the college landscape continue to evolve, and it’s exciting times.

The times are volatile, too, so it’s important to look at those teams that continue to produce quality athletes and teams, despite the changes in and around them. Penn State is the prime example of such. Since its ninth DI national championship in May 2014, the Nittany Lions have welcomed a new head coach and shifted its entire regular season and playoffs to the fall – save one final game. And yet, there was little doubt that come the ’14-’15 season that the Lions would continue its tradition of victory.

“The team has a lot of player leadership, which of course makes things like new coaches easier to handle,” Penn State’s Kate Daley spoke to her first season as head coach. “Penn State has also always had a large and varied coaching staff over the years as well. The continuity of all the great coaches has insured the program has continued grow, develop and move forward.”

It also helped that Daley is a PSU alum and spent spring ’14 assistant coaching alongside Pete Steinberg. Daley also shared a special connection with two players: Hope Rogers and Meya Bizer. The pair were the only two collegians on the USA Women’s Rugby World Cup team, which Daley captained.

Although there was an adjustment period in the fall, Penn State was perfect through the fall, earning a berth to the DI national final after a 42-5 win over Norwich last December. That left the Big Ten team with five months to prepare for the May 9 championship against a to-be-named opponent (which will be decided this weekend at the spring playoffs).

“We knew that playing our competitive season in the fall would make the spring challenging in regards to preparation,” Daley said. “But conversely we also have a lot of time to develop and prep for a game we know we are already participating in and spending less mental energy worrying about qualifying.”

Since then, PSU has gone on tour to Spain and France, played some 15s friendlies, and mixed in some 7s tournaments. Most recently, Penn State won the Big Ten 7s and the automatic berth to the USA Rugby Collegiate 7s Championship, which occurs two weeks after DI nationals. The integration of 7s tournaments into the spring has been slightly jarring, as some players have stuck to 15s and opted out of those competitions. But the team boasts intimidating depth and there is little concern for cohesion issues.

In addition to its host of current and former All Americans on the roster, Penn State is blessed with several important fifth years, including Lauren Barber, Brie Barto, Katie Benson, Elena Cantorna, Annie Lucas, Lauren Shissler, and Andrea Villanova. That’s nearly half a starting side that has been playing with the best college team in the country. Pair that experience with rising underclassmen like Tess Feury, Gabby Cantorna, and Corinne Heavner, among many others, and that is one impressive lineup.

But when those days of wearing the Penn State jersey cease, the next stage of commitment begins. Penn State has a large, active alumni base that aids this tradition of winning. Without the long-term investment of former players – like Daley – on and off the pitch, as well as financially, PSU could not sustain this legacy of victory.

“I think it is a point of pride that the program has worked hard, through its entire history, to maintain a culture focused on each individual player leaving the program better than they found it,” Daley concluded. “That focus has allowed the team continued on-field success.”