Program Spotlight: Keep an Eye on Queens-Charlotte Women in NIRA
Program Spotlight: Keep an Eye on Queens-Charlotte Women in NIRA
Queens University Charlotte’s opening salvo for the NIRA D-I season was a head-turner.
Navy is a very good team and Queens was coming in with a new Head Coach and some expectation of a little turmoil. But Queens came away with an impressive 40-7 win.
New Head Coach Danny Harlow, who had been coaching and administrating within North Carolina Youth Rugby, didn’t have a lot of time to get settled before the season had to start. On the other side of the coin, since previous Head Coach Dana Mechisi (who led Queens to a NIRA D-II title in 2022) stepped down in June, she had accomplished a lot on the recruiting side, so Harlow had a solid roster with which to work.
That was evident early on. Harlow’s first day on the job was the team’s first day of assembly.
“We had a meeting and we talked about how we want to play and how we wanted to get there,” Harlow told GRR. “And also we had goals as far as working in the community and also academically. We want to develop rugby players, but also student-athletes who can succeed in life.”
The players responded and showed that they wanted to to get to work immediately. All of that made for a pretty successful preseason.
“They all showed up with good skills,” said Harlow. “They could catch and pass and tackle, and we’re able to improve on that. We want to play fast and we have good rugby players, but they are also taking ownership in their development.
“We have really good players who want to get on the ball,” said Harlow. “Against Navy, they did a good job of slowing our ball down and we need to work more on how to deal with that. But yes we’ve had a really good start.”
Queens got a big game from wing/fullback Jay Stone, who, at 6-1, is a big, hard-running outside back with good balance. Scrumhalf Salome Schmitt was hard-working and dynamic, scoring twice. Senior prop Jada Medllin out of Mountain View HS in Idaho, was a power up front and one of those freshman recruits, Cecelia Scarff out of SE Polk in Iowa, stepped in as the goalkicker and converted five out of six.
Is it all solved? Of course not. Queens will play Warren Wilson in a non-D-I game, but after that they play Brown and then Dartmouth, both in neutral territory. They get a bye week after that before hosting Mount St. Mary’s, meeting West Point in Annapolis, and hosting Harvard. They finish up with Warren Wilson again and then Princeton.
It’s a tough schedule, to be sure, but it has started well, so keep an eye on Queens.
