By: Nick Frieburger | Staff Writer
After finishing the regular season with a record of 5-0 and winning their first playoff game, Salve Regina’s Men’s Rugby team seems destined for greatness.
The Seahawks have outscored their five opponents 239-34, earning the top spot in the standings heading into the playoffs. This success has been the result of a total team effort from an abundance of players, as over 20 different players have scored so far this season.
Assistant Coach Joe Goff, who was a former captain of the team just a year ago, didn’t hesitate when asked the one word he would use to describe this team. “Grit. That’s an easy one for me,” said Goff. “As a school with less than 2,500 students including graduates and a school that is predominantly female based, it’s very hard for us to consistently get numbers, so that’s something I take a lot of pride in is the grit in the recruitment process.”
Coach Goff thinks the experience from last year is paying dividends for the team this year, especially playing all the way into mid November in the previous year, adding, “I think that last year and the years past, a lot of our younger guys got great experience, whether that be at the beast of the east tournament which happens right here in Portsmouth, whether that be at one of our national appearances or just a simple conference match, I think its building camaraderie, its building chemistry and its allowed guys to build confidence to step up and become leaders, which is what I feel we have now a wholesome group of seniors who have all bought into the system and the beliefs and values that run this program.”
One of the team’s recruits over the past few years is senior captain Harry Holte, who said joining the rugby team is one of the best decisions he has ever made. “ It has impacted my student life in more than I could ever explain,” says Holte. “It’s been of the best decisions I have made for myself and certainly my college journey here at Salve Regina.”
Since the season started in early September, the team has been working hard but they believe there is still much more to accomplish. Salve is trying to rewrite the story and win the CCRC Championship as they fell just shy of that goal last year to Endicott College.
Holte spoke to the confidence level of the Seahawks heading into the playoffs, saying, “We’re feeling extremely confident, extremely prepared. We had a lot of good competition in the regular season. A lot of good outcomes because we were working hard.”
On Saturday, Salve throttled Western New England in a 72-5 win during the quarterfinals of the CCRC playoffs. They will now move onto the semi finals where they will face the winner of Mass Maritime and Endicott on Saturday October 26th.
