For the first time all season, the St. Bonaventure women will face a challenge on the rugby pitch. Meredith Pyke is looking forward to it.

The undefeated Bonnies (6-0), ranked No. 1 in the nation in the National Collegiate Rugby Small College poll, square off with No. 2 Cortland (5-0) Friday night for the Upstate New York Women’s Collegiate Rugby Conference small college championship.

The game at SBU’s Marra Athletics Fields Complex kicks off at 8 p.m. It will be broadcast on NCR’s YouTube channel.

Both clubs are coming off of dominating performances in their playoff openers. The Bonnies defeated Hamilton, 94-5, and Cortland thumped Niagara, 60-0.

“No question it’s going to be our most challenging game this season,” said Pyke, the Bonnies’ first-year coach. “But I’m excited to see what we can do against them. We’re finally playing a game where we’re going to be on defense quite a bit.”

Having spent so much of the season in the offensive zone, the Bonnies enlisted the aid of the men’s rugby team, ranked No. 2 in the latest NCR Division I poll, to help them work on their defensive strategy.

“The men have been great, coming to practice to help us work on our transition between offense and defense,” Pyke said.

In a sport where a handful of players often dominate the try zone, Pyke credits a balanced attack that features eight freshmen in the starting lineup with the club’s success this season.

“Of the 22 people on the roster, 17 have scored this season and that’s so unusual in rugby,” Pyke said. “It’s really fantastic that so many people are contributing and that we play so unselfishly. We’re not worried about getting a top scorer the ball. We’re just worried about doing whatever’s needed to be successful.”

No matter who wins Friday, both teams will advance to the regional brackets of the NCR Small College national tournament the weekend of Nov. 12-13. The league, considered one of the top small-college leagues in the country, was granted an at-large bid, guaranteeing both teams will move on.

The winner of each of the four regional brackets will advance to the national final four in Houston.

“I had high hopes coming into the season, but even then, the women have surpassed all of my expectations,” Pyke said. “To do this well having only nine returning players, and to incorporate so many freshmen into the team, is a testament to how hard they’ve worked to get better every day.”

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. St. Bonaventure was named the #5 regional university value in the North in U.S. News and World Report’s 2022 college rankings edition.