“When you go out and get absolutely schlacked in your very first game, there’s a couple things you can think about.”
Those were the first words out of Rugby head coach Becky Carlson’s mouth after the team’s second matchup of the year, a 33-14 victory over Brown.
That first game of the season against Dartmouth, a 59-0 bludgeoning at the hands of a rugby powerhouse, refused to leave Carlson’s mind.
Quinnipiac rugby is in an interesting position, with 13 players departing and 11 new ones coming into the fold this season. It’s difficult to build a title-contending team with so many new faces, but not impossible.
The Bobcat’s resilience against Brown proved that. Many teams would be completely demoralized after experiencing a 59-point shutout to open the season, but not Quinnipiac.
Rugby is a violent sport in nature, crashes and collisions happen nearly every play. But despite the hits, the bumps and the bruises, every time a Bobcat falls down, they get right back up.
Quinnipiac holds that same mentality game after game. It’s not about how you get knocked down, it’s about how you get up. The Bobcats are hungry, and it’s reflective in their playstyle.
“We have a program that has a rich legacy of winning and (the players) want to bring that back, they are hungry to bring that back,” Carlson said.
As Carlson reflected on player sentiments, she pointed to the Quinnipiac rugby scoreboard, which displays the three NIRA National Championships the program has, the last of which is from 2017.
“They don’t like seeing the gap between national championships, they don’t like it. We actively talk about language we haven’t used in a couple years, because we haven’t been putting the pressure on, we’re putting it on now and they’re responding to it.”
First year lock Carolyn Melody is one of the eleven new Bobcats who is just getting introduced to this mindset.
“One of our main focal points is continuity,” Melody said. “Trying to keep the ball alive, and that’s what helps us win.”
Continuity can be difficult to establish during the beginning of the season, especially when you have 11 new players trying to integrate themselves into a system, something Melody acknowledged.
“A lot of us are first timers playing on this field. To get that momentum right off the bat, to know that we can do this it’s (huge).”
Something that might help carry that momentum game after game is how Quinnipiac approaches each opponent. The Bobcats are implementing a new system in order to get the team more prepared for each team they face.
Last year Quinnipiac did a lot of scouting on opponents, and heavily relied on watching scout film to get an idea of what other teams were focusing on.
“Our game plan wasn’t getting much better because we were so focused on what the other team was doing,” Carlson said. “We’re going to keep continuing to work on the things we need to work on and keep pressing that in practice.”
It seems like the new strategy is beginning to pay dividends. After the loss to Dartmouth, Quinnipiac focused on improvement rather than trying to gain an edge on Brown, and it worked.
After finishing last season with a record of 4-3-2, Quinnipiac has more than enough opportunities to surpass that record and return to the NIRA tournament.
But it won’t be a walk in the park, as the team will face some formidable competition including longtime NIRA rival Sacred Heart, who currently has a 2-0 overall record.
As the Bobcats look to satisfy their own hunger and bring a championship banner back to Hamden, they’ve already proven the ability to block out the noise and get back up.
It’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish.
