The Carleton Ravens women’s rugby team is back on the pitch this fall and under the guidance of a new head coach, Patrick Thompson.
Playing in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) eight-team conference last season, the Ravens’ campaign was off to a rough 0-5 start, but gained steam and finished last season with consecutive wins against Bishop’s and Sherbrooke.
Looking to build on last season’s performance, the team has kicked off their preseason with light scrimmages against reigning conference champions University of Ottawa (U of O) and Queen’s on Aug. 29 and 31, respectively.
In these early pre-season scrimmages, the focus of the team has not been on the score but simply looking for improvement out of its players.
Offensively, they have been working on maintaining their attacking shape during games and running their offensive system through their formation. With many new faces working together for the first time, establishing a rhythm defensively and staying connected and alert has been stressed.
Assessing how players are carrying out individual skills is also a benefit of the pre-season. Head coach Patrick Thompson said there are “a lot of positives to take away,” based what he has seen so far during the preseason scrimmages.
“Scrums and line outs are pretty intricate part of the games that take a lot of repetition,” Thompson said. “We spent some time on it in training camp.”
“There’s so many fine details involved, that it takes a long time master it,” he said. “We’re happy with how it went to far, but definitely can refine it moving forward.”
Heading into this season, Carleton looks to lean heavily on veteran players with plenty of experience at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) level, such as Mel Judges and Susan Garwood, both of whom had strong showings in early scrimmages.
“They’re all senior players who have a lot of experience playing at a high level and we’ll be leaning on them throughout the season,” Thompson said.
A long-time assistant coach at Carleton, Thompson was promoted to head coach after his predecessor Denis Blondin resigned last December. Thompson acknowledged that the role of head coach goes far beyond just the pitch.
“Off the field, we’re trying to build a program that we can help the athletes perform at their full potential,” Thompson said. “On the field, we do have some expectations, [we’re] looking to make the playoffs this year and we have the team to do that.”
The varsity team concludes its preseason in a scrimmage against the Queen’s Gaels at Matt Anthony Field at the U of O campus and then commences its regular season with a trip to Bishop’s University on Sept. 4, with kick-off scheduled for 4 p.m.
Later on this season, Carleton hosts McGill, Sherbrooke, and Concordia at the Raven Road Field while travelling to play Laval, Ottawa, and Montreal in road games.
