Cal vs. Stanford

I honestly thought that we had a chance this year but it wasn't meant to be. The B-side game went fairly well considering that we played down 1 or 2 players the entire time and that they had U-19 players on the field. The A-side game was disheartening. At the half, the score was 5-9 with Stanford up and then in the second half Stanford just racked up the points. Some of those tries were from lucky bounces and one was from a blatent penalty that wasn't called but even without those points we lost by a wide margin. This is not to say we didn't play well because I believe that we did at times but fitness was a huge factor and they were able to exploit the fact that we had inexperienced wings. I still think we're a good team but it'll all depend on if we can bounce back from this. Chico is coming up and once again I believe we can win. We just have to want it badly and improve on what we did wrong in the Stanford game.

I, however, won't be a part of the bouncing back. About 35 minutes into the B-side game, I went into a tackle and heard a pop coming from my left knee. I went to the ER Saturday evening but they couldn't tell me much of anything. Today, the doctor confirmed what I was afraid of. I have a torn ACL. I haven't had a MRI yet but he manually examined my knee and he's pretty certain that I tore it. It's all just so frustrating because I spent last season on the sidelines and I'm going to spend this season the same way. I was really looking forward to playing this season because I could feel myself improving and now I'm looking at surgery and being unable to play rugby for at least 6 months, if not much longer.

Stanford Tournament

This past weekend was the Stanford Invitational and it was a great way to gear up for our season. Saturday we played BYU, UCLA, and Oregon. Sunday we played Colorado, Stanford, and Davis. We ended the tournament 3-3 in 4th place but like always there is so much more to the story besides the numbers. BYU was the only game that was a true disappointment. It served as a wake up call and we improved from there. Although we ended up losing the games we had a great comeback against Stanford and the game against Davis was decided by a penalty kick in sudden death. Apparently, our playing caught the attention of others. The Goff called our game against Davis the most exciting of the tournament and the ref also seemed impressed in his report.

I really enjoyed playing. I was scrumhalf for the entire Oregon game and for half of the Colorado game. I played the best I've ever played in the Oregon game. Something clicked and I made some key tackles. Colorado didn't go quite so well but I'm improving and that's always a good feeling. I'm cautiously hoping that I might have found a position home.

This coming weekend is the beginning of league season and I'm so excited. The tournament eased my worries a lot. There is plenty of room for improvement but this past weekend proved that we have the talent, the potential, and most importantly the heart to win. We fielded a bunch of different line ups in each game and they worked. People adapted to each other and that will be key in the next couple of months.

Stanford here we come and we're itching for an upset! I believe, I believe, I believe!

Double Days, Slugs, and Heights

Double Days were a lot of fun. The twice a day practices made us all sore but we worked hard and also got some good bonding time in. The firewalk was a lot of fun too and a great way to jump start the week.

Saturday was the annual clinic and friendly with UCSC. It was a clear, chilly day and compared with the torential downpour of last year it felt like paradise. The clinic lasted two hours and mostly just covered the basics of passing and such. The game lasted for 90 minutes played in three periods. We started off sloppy but steadily improved over the course of the game and in the last few minutes we were playing beautifully. We won just barely with a score of 27-26 but it's an improvement over last year when we lost. Also, everyone who wasn't a gimp got playing time which was cool and since various people switched positions during double days this was an adjustment game for some.

I have officially become a scrumhalf. I wouldn't be surprised if in a couple of months I got switched to something else but for now I think I'll mainly be put in at scrumhalf. I played during the second period and it felt odd. I'm certainly not used to it. I don't run like a back but I also don't ruck like a forward. It's an weird combo of the two. And I completely flubbed a penalty play which now is semi funny but at the moment made me want to kick myself.

Sunday was our ropes course team bonding event. I got a lot of splinters but like last year I really enjoyed leaping around in the air.

DOUBLE DAYS ARE OVER. Let the season begin!

It's starting...

And the fun begins...
DOUBLE DAYS!

Goff's Fall Review

Goff posted his review of the college women's rankings. Not only are we mentioned but we're mentioned positively. Yay!

"And who should we watch out for? That's a tough one to answer but it's clear that Stanford will remain the team to beat going into the New Year. In addition in California UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego will be very strong and could move up the rankings with some speed.

Someone in the Northwest will emerge, but whether they are better than, say, Chico State or Cal is hard to say. And from the South you wonder if Clemson or Florida or North Carolina might jump ahead."