1995-1996
"Genesis"
The story of Navy Women's Rugby began at the end of the second semester of
the 1995 academic year. Julie Maynard ('96), approached Major Thomas Edwards
(USMC '77) about coaching the inaugural women's team. CAPT Martinez, USN, the
ranking female on the Yard became the Officer Representative for the team.
Having gained the proper coaching and officer support,. The team joined the VRU
as a provisional member and came together at the beginning of first semester
during the 1996 academic year. David Grogan ('98) and LCDR Geisen, USN
were asistant coaches. Season record 2-2 Three girls also attended the
military national developmental camp over christmas leave. The participants were
Jen Goddard ('96), Laura Tuck ('98), and Romy Christensen ('98). The second
semester turned out to be a major improvement over the first. The girls were
confident and had some experience now. They coupled that experience with their
brute strength and stamina to manhandle some teams, most notably the cruel
thrashing of Longwood 70-0. The second semester also saw us playing a national
power, Air Force. The end of the season marked the departure of all of our
great founders from the class of 1996 and LCDR Geisen, USN. The end of the
season also held a slight foreshadowing of the future as we look back through
blurry eyes and a coach's questionable memory to realize that although we were
only a year old we had started with a winning year, had scored twice on a team
that hadn't been scored on in the regular season for two years, and had started
a respectable program. Season record 3-2 ( Year 5-4)
1996-1997
"Breakout"
First semester of our second season could best be described
as a blur ( possibly because we lost the stats). This season saw us as one of
the members of the newly-founded Potomac Rugby Union Women's Division.
O-Rep Capt Denise Mattes, USMC and ENS Sharon Eliassen (USN '96), joined the
coaching staff. We rolled through our PRU schedule undefeated. Our only true
competition was in the form of Mary Washington College and the Univ. of Delaware
but both were defeated rather handily. Winning our league championship qualified
us for competition in the MARFU tournament. ( First semester record A side 9-0 B
side 3-0) . Second semester brought the arrival of a new coach, Sam Pelham
(Capt, USMCR) who was a member of the All Marine and Combined Service teams. One
of the most notable was the 34-31 win over Penn State on Hospital Point. It also
included a nice 15-0 shutout of the Chesapeake Women's Team and a 13-7 win over
Va Tech. The season was ended in a manner that would foreshadow the storm
to follow the next season. (Semester record A 4-0 B 1-3) As a sidelight to the
season, the first PRU select side was established with 19 of the 34 girls from
Navy. Navy dominated every aspect of the PRU select side as the stats show that
only one select side try was by a non-Navy player. Oh, well, gotta start
somewhere.
1997-1998
"The Long Road"
The 1997 PRU matrix would see Navy fly out of the
starting blocks and never look back. The slaughter of St Mary's began the
season. The PRU dominance from the previous year continued as the girls amassed
a 5-0 A side and 2-0 B side record with no points being scored on them. The
final points stats for the PRU showed Navy scoring 424 points and relinquishing
none. The team also saw a massive change in coaching staff as Grogan ('98)
was joined by a new Head Coach in the form of LT "Butch"
Neuenschwander ('90) and Assistants CDR Dan Proulx ('82) and Matt Firosz.
With the pending detachment of LT Neuenschwander to San Diego, the reins of the
team were passed to CDR Dan Proulx, USN, '82. His coaching staff included Matt
Firosz and the irrepressible Grogan. 3 girls were selected to tryout for the
U.S. under 23 National Side: Berberich ('98), Kesselman ('00) and Hawkins ('00)
. We also accepted the Referee's Cup and tried to figure out why PSU wanted to
join our union.
