Sep 05, 2024
Coming off a national championship just nine months ago, it would be easy for St. Bonaventure’s women’s rugby team to be a little cocky as they head into their fall 15s season this Saturday at Cornell.
Just one catch: they’re not in Division III anymore.
In a move to elevate the stature of the program, Coach Meredith Pyke announced in December the team’s jump to Division I, just two weeks after the Bonnies defeated Wisconsin-Platteville, 22-17, for the National Collegiate Rugby small-college (now called D-III) national title in Houston.
“It was the best decision we could have made because had we stayed in Division III, it would have been easy to come into the season overconfident and a little flat,” said Pyke, now in her third year as the Bonnies coach. “There is so much else out there, so much growth and development we can do and they’re ready to do it.”
During the spring 7s season, the Bonnies often defeated D-I teams like Pittsburgh and Notre Dame College.
“That gave us the confidence that, hey, if we put a little more work into our fitness, our skills, our rugby IQ, we can be contenders,” Pyke said.
Unlike her first year as coach, when she was scrambling to find campus walk-ons to fill out her roster, Pyke welcomes more than a dozen new players, most of them who played rugby in high school.
“I’m thrilled with the growth of the program. I didn’t think we could get here this fast,” said Pyke, who has a large enough roster now to field a B team for player development. That team will play a handful of games against schools like Buffalo State, Nazareth and Le Moyne.
“Those games will allow everyone to have opportunities to play to grow their rugby IQ,” Pyke said. “Someone like (freshman) Alexis Majewski, who was a great athlete in high school but never played the sport before, those games will give her experience without the pressure of worrying about messing up in an A-s
Despite losing a handful of stalwarts from her national title team, including 7s all-star Kyla Nentarz who tore her ACL in June, Pyke is cautiously optimistic that the Bonnies will be competitive in their jump to Division I. Having five All-Americans back, including national championship MVP Makenna Ramsey, doesn’t hurt.
"We are ready for these tests, and if they do the things we’re asking and can continue to grow and develop as a team, I have no doubt we can be competitive right away,” said Pyke, whose Bonnies are ranked No. 10 in the preseason National Collegiate Rugby Division I poll.
The influx of new talent with high school rugby experience has allowed three freshmen to crack the starting lineup: Taylor Cohen from Oakland, California, Taryn Gonzales from Middletown, New Jersey, and Alexandria Sutandar from Phoenix, Arizona.
The word is clearly out: Players from all over the country want to be part of the program Pyke has built. Pyke is most grateful that her core of veteran stars — Ramsey, Ashlee Reid and Kaylee Middaugh — were at Bona’s long enough to witness such success and the move to Division I.
“They’ve been through all the ups and downs and have been the glue to hold this program together so it will really be great to see them play Division I in their final season,” Pyke said. “They’ve helped build the community and culture we have that make people want to be a part of it.”
______________
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. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #6 for value and #14 for innovation by U.S. News and World Report (2024).