Allison Mueller/ Winonan
The Winona State University women’s rugby team, the Black Katts, won their seventh consecutive All Minnesota Rugby Tournament this past weekend.
With 24 returning players and an additional 15 recruits this season, Winona State was able to enter two teams in the tournament: tier one and tier two.
Senior co-captain and lock Kourtney Kavajecz said, “The veteran players have only known the dominance of Winona State at this tournament. We plan on continuing that dominance this weekend and showing the rookies what it means to play for the Winona State Black Katts.”
Kavajecz also said the Black Katts have been working on the basics in practice to prepare for the tournament as well as the season.
“As the season progresses we will be working off of this solid foundation of skills towards more detail oriented drills and practices,” Kavajecz said, “but I am content with how productive these first few practices have been.”
Head coach Josh Krzewinski said, “Our focus has been to produce quality rugby, nothing fancy. Just the basics executed very well.”
The Black Katts dominated in the tournament, as tier one defeated three teams to make it to the final and defeat Mankato, and tier two posted one win and two losses.
Junior lock Kristen Semrow said the Black Katts went into the tournament with the same mind set as any other game.
“Mentally, we are thinking that this tournament will be like any other game during our season,” Semrow said, “We want to keep up our intensity for the whole game and push each other to play the best they can.”
Tier two defeated St. Bens 34-0 their first game and faced Moorhead for their second game of the day, a team that won the Minnesota Division III conference last year.
The tier 2 Black Katts fell to Moorhead 34-15. They came out the next day to play the semifinal game against
Wayne State, the defending Division III National Champions.
Winona State held Wayne State to an even score 0-0 until the second half. The final score resulted in a loss for the tier two Black Katts, 12-0.
Krzewinski said the performance from the young group of girls in tier two against Wayne State, a difficult team, was promising.
“They came out with some aggression, improved on their tackling and support, and fought to the final whistle,” Krzewinski said.
Krzewinski said during this tournament one of the goals was to get the new players as much playing time as possible.
“Practice is great, but there is nothing like game experience,” Krzewinski said.
The tier one team dominated their first game against Duluth, 81-0, as well as the second game against North Dakota State University, 80-0.
Winona State faced Gustavus Adolphus College in the semifinal and won by forfeit.
In the finals the Black Katts faced Mankato and won, 35-5.
Krzewinski said tier one was able to keep their defensive shape and stop any momentum Mankato tried to execute on, but Mankato is still a team to keep their eye on.
“The league game versus Mankato Sept. 20 in Mankato will be a big challenge for the team,” Krzewinski said. “The winner of that match will more than likely be the winner of the Northern Lights conference at the end of October. They are certainly gunning for us.”
The Black Katts will face Gustavus Adolphus at home at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 13. in Winona.
