The Lake Forest College men’s and women’s club rugby teams headed to the Tournament of Champions (TOC) hosted by Northern Illinois University in Sleepy Hollow, Illinois on Saturday, April 11. The tournament included more than 20 men’s and women’s collegiate and club rugby teams from around the area, including Wisconsin, Iowa, and Indiana.
The women started out the day against the Fox Valley Vixens, a women’s club team from St. Charles, Illinois. Lake Forest dominated the match, maintaining possession of the ball for a majority of the game despite playing on a rain-soaked, puddleridden field that took a beating during last week’s severe rainstorms. Lake Forest won 17-0, with tries scored by Emily Simpson ’17, women’s president Kelly Knight ’15, and Courtney (Faulstick) Bateman, a 2013 alumna.
The women then received an automatic win after Southern Illinois University forfeited before moving on to face Western Iowa University. Again, the women dominated, winning 23-0 with tries scored by Knight and Amber Craghead ’15, before eventually falling in the semifinal round to County Will Morrigans Women Rugby Club. Captain Kelly Mehalek ’15 was happy with her team’s performance. “I’m happy I scored more than Joey Kropp,” Mehalek said.
A week earlier, the women’s team struggled against NIU, losing 63-5 in the home opener, but that only drove the women to push hard at the TOC.
When asked how the team did Aprill 11, Simpson said she thought it went “really well.”
“We did a lot better than our first game and showed a lot of progress,” Simpson said. “We do have a lot of rookies on our team, but with having (only) one game under their belt, they showed a lot of improvement this weekend. I’m so proud of them.”
2014-2015 Women’s Rugby
2014-2015 Men’s Rugby
For the men, Saturday was also a great day of rugby. The men started out in a grueling battle against Illinois State University. The teams were evenly matched— so evenly matched, in fact, the final score ended in a 0-0 tie. The men then went on to face Peoria Men’s Club, winning 31-21 before falling to Riot Men’s Club Rugby 24-14 in the semifinals.
Overall, the rugby season has been a success. “The men are working well,” men’s president Phil Rindom ’15 said. “I would’ve loved to see more guys out, but all in all it has been a good year. We have very few seniors, so I can’t wait to see what will happen in the next couple of years.”
The men’s and women’s teams are coached by Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Ty Van Valkenburg ’11. “Ty is the man,” Rindom said. “He comes to our practices every time even though he has to train all of the varsity athletes. He also takes care of many of the administrative things, which lightens the load on the team presidents.”
The women, currently 3-2, were set to face University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee on April 18; the men, 2-2- 1, were to face DePaul University.
