First-Ever NIRA DI Win May Be Just the Start for LIU
First-Ever NIRA DI Win May Be Just the Start for LIU
How big a deal was LIU’s defeat of Mount St. Mary’s in NIRA D1’s opening weekend?
Probably a very big deal. Long Island went into the game never having won a 15s game in the league, and came away with a shutout to the tune of 18-0.
What made this even more noteworthy is that LIU has been limited by its athletics department to a roster of 23. With injuries that 23 can dwindle pretty quickly and in fact on the day Head Coach Joey Rasmus had 16 players to call upon. By the time the game was over, only 13 Sharks were on the field to preserve the shutout. One of those players who’d to come off was captain Gina Pollis, who had to leave at 60 minutes.
Upstarts and Favorites Win in NIRA DI Opening Weekend
“It was a gutsy performance from the players,” said Rasmus. “Playing without your captain, shorthanded … six freshmen … it was a huge effort.”
The opening passage of play was nervous and chaotic. The Sharks struggled to find their structures. When Sophia Gaddis looked to clear the ball deep into the Mount half, the disorganized kick chase committed an offsides infringement. What could have been a huge momentum swing to the Sharks was negated and gifted the Mountaineers an early attacking opportunity in LIU territory.
And in fact that play had long-term ramifications. Rasmus wanted his team to kick; he felt they could do some damage there.
“But after that kick rather than figure it out we opted not to do it anymore,” said the coach. Physical on defense the Sharks still had some things to work on with the ball.
“We spun our wheels in attack a lot,” said Rasmus. “We could have played less attritional rugby. But we had the ball stuck in the breakdowns.”
Players needed to communicate to each more about who was there to receive a pass. All of that slowed the ball down. But eventually, said Rasmus, they settled down.
The game plan also involved looking to Sophia Gaddis to take shots at goal. Gaddis has good range and in training regular hits kicks from 40 meters. The attempts on Saturday were almost all from long range and while she didn’t hit every one, the missed kicks had the benefit of pinning the Mount back near their tryline.
“We didn’t expect the Mount would have an easy time getting out of their 22,” said Rasmus. That proved to be correct.
Gaddis did slot a penalty early on for a 3-0 lead, and then, at 30 minutes, freshman Kori Fields made her impact. Having already turned heads with some powerful tackles, Fields forced a handling error with her defensive pressure. From the ensuing scrum Police was able to set up Fields, who took off through and around the MSM defense to score.
A sprinter in high school, Fields did not appear to get out of 3rd gear as she cruised in to score.
Now up 8-0 LIU had a good cushion. A snatched ball and a race to the line produced a try for Tai Sherman and Gaddis converted for a 15-0 lead. A Gaddis penalty in the second half iced it.
More to Do
A perfect showing? No, which is very good news for LIU fans because the Sharks can certainly swim a little faster.
“Our edge defense was a little bit too passive,” warned Rasmus. “We had some things we can fix like that, game management things.”
But the message, along with Sacred Heart’s rather convincing win over Army over the weekend, is that the supposed also-rans in NIRA are working furiously to get better, and they’ve taken steps to do so. For LIU, this is step #1. If they can build depth they will be better situated to work their way through a hugely competitive NIRA D1 season.
