Emma Cavanaugh / Winonan

The Winona State University’s women’s rugby team, the Black Katts, started their season knowing the challenges ahead. The team had lost a fair number of seniors last year, so their future success was held in question.

Last year, the team fought their way to nationals, and returned home ranked second in the nation. The struggle would be to keep up their success even with many key players missing.

“Coming into this season, we knew we had talent. But with the previous graduating class, it was going to be a challenge to use that talent in the best positions possible,” head coach Josh Krzewinski said. “I think we have done pretty well with that. The returning players have helped get the newbies acclimated to out culture and work ethic.”

The Black Katts lived up to expectations, displaying that very talent. On Saturday, Nov. 12, the women played University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, beating them 109-5. The new players continued to show their worth.

“We had people who don’t normally step up step up, which is good to see. It’s really cool to see younger players step up and have a really good game. You can see it really click in their head, and it’s nice because they can make a huge difference on the field,” junior Megan Wolff said.

Yet, even with such high scoring, Wolff admitted that the team had things they needed to improve on before moving to nationals.

“We still have a lot of work to do even though we do lead by a lot,” Wolff said. “We have to work as a team, play better defense, work on a lot of individual skills as well.”

Senior captain Lanoira Duhart conceded.

“I think it went pretty well. There’s definitely some things we needed to work on after not having a game for a couple of weeks. We were a little rusty out there, but we still dominated and I think that it went pretty well,” Duhart said.

As nationals approach, the team looks to both the rookie talents and the seasoned veterans.

“I’m looking for all the vets to step up, because we have a lot of rookies on our team. So we need the vets to step up and guide our rookies,” Duhart said.

However, there is no one person who can win the game for the team.

“In rugby, all 15 people have to show up to a game. It’s not one person. One person can’t win a game. Sure you can have good games, but you need everyone to play to win,” Wolff said.

The team played Montana State University on Saturday, Nov. 19, taking home a victory of 42-5. They are determined to take home a national title this year.

“We went all the way last year, but unfortunately we lost and took second in the nation, which still isn’t bad. But it was a close game, it was a well fought game, and we’re here to redeem ourselves,” Duhart said.

As the team works through levels of the game, they began to see different aspects of play that need improvement.

“We need to work on our scrums because we are ok when we go through our cadence, but woeful when we do not,” coach Roger Riley said.

The Black Katts are advancing to the USA Rugby Fall Championship Final 4 in South Carolina. The team will leave Thursday, Dec. 1 to first compete in the semifinal against the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, taking place Dec. 3-4.

“If we play fundamental rugby, retain possession of the ball, I think we will do just fine. Eliminating the little errors will certainly be a key to winning,” said Krzewinski.

This is the team’s sixth consecutive visit to the Final 4.

-By Emma Cavanaugh