Allison Mueller/ Winonan
Winona State University women’s rugby team, the Black Katts, posted its fourth 100-plus point game of the season on Saturday against North Dakota State University.
Head coach Joshua Krzewinski said the Black Katts have increased fitness and speed work in practice leading up to the game against North Dakota State University and have added a Monday training session in addition to normal training sessions.
The girls will continue this vigorous practice routine through playoffs to defend their ranking as they face higher levels of competition.
Krzewinski said, “Every team we play wants to take away our number one ranking, so we have to come out strong every match.”
Traveling to North Dakota, coach Nick Pronold and Krzewinski expected Black Katts to play 80 minutes of smart, quality rugby.
“It’s about our discipline, our focus and our execution,” Krzewinski said. “Last week’s 112-0 win was great, but we didn’t play overly well.”
Pronold added there are small aspects of the game that can go overlooked when the team scores over 100 points a game. To avoid this, he said the Black Katts focus on setting a few goals to accomplish each game.
Senior flanker Victoria Langhans said she sets the same three goals for herself before each game. These are to tackle low, to have good communication on the field and to be at as many breakdowns as she can.
“I went into the game with an overall positive mind-set taking my goals with me every step of the way,” Langhans said.
The final score of Saturday’s game was 112-10, a lopsided win for Winona State, one Krzewinski was expecting because he believes “we have some of the best athletes in the country on our team.”
The Black Katts were on the board within four minutes of the first half with a try from Lanoira Duhart and the conversion by Katie Dries.
From there, Winona State controlled the entire first half, leading 62-0 at halftime.
Duhart again scored the first try of the half, opening the floodgates to more scoring from multiple Black Katt players throughout the second half. North Dakota State managed to get on the board at the end of the half to make it a 112-10 win for Winona State.
Langhans said one thing she has noticed over the years with the Black Katts is that they never quit, no matter how far ahead or behind they are in the game.
“If we’re up 100 to zero we’re still anxious and pushing ourselves to score another try,” Langhans said. “Even if we’re up by 100 points I tell myself throughout the entire 80 minutes that the score is still zero to zero because each and every minute of the game is important.”
Pronold said this game was a chance for younger and new players to step up, show their skills and earn playing time.
Freshman Megan Wolff said she has never been apart of such a great team before, and “the camaraderie between us is phenomenal.”
Wolff, who grew up playing soccer, knew she could not quit playing sports all together. She decided to try playing rugby after hearing about how good Winona State’s team was.
Wolff said freshmen do not see a lot of playing time, but since the Black Katts have been performing very well against other teams she has gotten to play every game.
“I’m not a starter for the team, so when opponents need players I offer to play for them the first half,” Wolff said. “This helps me work on my skills as a rugby player.”
Pronold said the Black Katts need to perform with younger players mixed with veterans in order to continue to win.
“The deeper we get into playoffs the more precise we need to be with substitutions,” Pronold said.
The Black Katts have two final league matches, both at home, to conclude conference play. These games are against University of North Dakota and University of Minnesota Duluth on Oct. 18 and Oct. 25, respectively.
