With an already impressive rugby career, Ravens 2024 Rookie of the Year Sierra Hasse is not slowing down.
The Carleton Ravens women’s rugby squad missed the playoffs for the first time since 2017 (finishing just behind Montreal in the RSEQ standings), but Hasse had another dominant season, ending with a team-leading 50 points and earning Carleton’s Athlete of the Week twice in September.
Hasse is the Ravens’ first-ever RSEQ Rookie of the Year.
She switched to rugby after playing competitive soccer in middle school in St Saint-Lazare, Que., a move that eventually led her to tour Carleton with Ravens rugby coach David Luong.
Luong has been coaching Hasse for almost a year and said the second-year mathematics and statistics student’s biggest strength is her “high rugby IQ.”
“She’s a good student, so that makes her a very good student of the game.”
Most of Hasse’s former Montreal teammates expected her to be “Concordia-bound,” which motivated her to prove herself at Carleton, she said. She partially credits that drive for earning the RSEQ Rookie of the Year title in 2024.
“It was really cool to see that my hard work paid off and that other people were noticing it too.”
Luong said Hasse’s growth won’t stop there.
Having already been selected for Canada’s U20 rugby team at 19, she has her sights set high.
“Her aspiration is to play, hopefully, at the next World Cup. So for us, it’s about ensuring that we provide her the resources, as well as the training to get her there,” Luong said.
Hasse said rugby is a sport that welcomes “every body type and every type of person.”
“There really is no discrimination in rugby,” she said.
“When I first joined rugby, I saw these tall, strong, athletic women doing such cool things with their bodies, and I just love that because I don’t know if there’s any other sport out there that provides that type of community.”
For Hasse, the goals don’t stop at the pitch. After completing her undergraduate degree, she hopes to pursue a master’s degree.
While she hasn’t decided on a specific program yet, she knows she wants to continue her studies in math.
“I can’t play rugby forever, with the nature of the contact sport,” she said. “So I want to get a good degree to rely on.”
Fortunately, one of Hasse’s greatest personal skills is her time management and determination.
“Every semester when the syllabuses come out, I sit down for like three hours and genuinely budget out my time for every single day,” Hasse said, adding that she tries to give herself “grace” to avoid burnout.
Luong said his favourite part of coaching is seeing his players develop year over year.
“Our coaching staff is taking on that philosophy of ‘how can we empower these individuals to take ownership of their own training as well as their own learning of the game?’” he said.
Hasse says she only sees more growth from the Ravens women’s rugby team from here.
“I think we’ll be a team to watch out for …I think we’re destined for something great,” she said.
Featured image provided by Marc Lafleur Photography
