BYU lost its DIA season-opener to Central Washington University by 30 points, but Cougars captain Taylor Johnston described her team as far from dampened. The squad has processed those first-game jitters, banked some lessons, and now has two weeks to train for the Wildcats rematch. The senior No. 8 knows an improved performance awaits.
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“A really big focus point for the team was just going in there and seeing what happens, and remembering that this is our first game we’ve played in a while,” Johnston said of season-opener goals. “We didn’t want to be too hard on ourselves. ‘Let’s just see what happens and gauge where we are and not worry too much about the opposition.’ Because we can inflate the competition sometimes. ‘Central Washington is a huge team. Will we be able to even compete?’”
That’s a lot of composure coming from someone who is a relative newcomer to the sport. Johnston was born in New Zealand, grew up in Australia, and played basketball – not rugby, outside of a little touch in high school. When she arrived at BYU and people learned of her southern hemisphere background, the next question was often: Oh, do you play rugby?!
But she couldn’t reply in the affirmative until fall 2018, when the then-sophomore had a go at tryouts and made the team. Johnston benefitted from veteran mentors and was able to ease onto the pitch while BYU dominated its previous league, USA Rugby’s Division I Pacific Desert conference. Johnston worked into the second half of the 2019 DI Spring College Championship and helped her team secure the title. The Cougars outscored regular- and post-season opponents 577-7.
“Playing with really experienced players, that was really helpful,” Johnston reflected on her trajectory. “We had done really well that semester and so going into the [spring] championship we were all pretty confident. But I still didn’t have that much experience or knowledge of the game, so it was surreal to say we were the champions during my first year of rugby.”
So much has changed for BYU and Johnston since May 2019. There was obviously Covid-19 in spring 2020, and then the subsequent fall saw the Cougars align with the DIA (formerly, DI Elite) for guaranteed competition. Johnston was thrust into a leadership position, a role to which she’s still adjusting.
“It’s pretty daunting because, again, I’m still a student of the game and learning a lot, and I don’t have as much experience as other players on the team,” Johnston said. “So it’s been a huge learning curve for me, being thrown into a leadership role.
“Also, we have a huge turnover of girls,” the captain referenced players leaving for missions during school. “There are a lot of new girls, and teaching them new things has been difficult because I don’t have those experienced players from my first year [to lean on]. It’s been humbling … but also unifying, at least in the forwards. We’re all learning together. It’s a major growth period.”
Johnston noted that BYU assistant coach Sia (Skipps) Gomez is an important resource for her. Among her many notable performances, Gomez played No. 8 in the 2016 DI Elite National Championship – the first title match in the competition’s history – and has that positional and game knowledge that Johnston needs while growing in the sport.
“I definitely feel offense is one my strengths,” Johnston self assessed. “I’m good at seeing the field and seeing the space and breaking the line, and I have good ballhandling skills. That has all played to my advantage as a No. 8, and it’s why I like the position, too. You have more offensive opportunities – especially off the scrum and moving between the backs and forwards. I also have good size. I’m bigger but I’m not so big that I’m immovable, and I have quickness for my size.”
Johnston explained that the squad was equal parts anxiety and excitement in advance of the Feb. 27 match. She wanted her teammates to take chances, play freely, and embrace the motto they’d selected for themselves this season: Seize the moment.
BYU took the first lead of the game with a Nicole Lyons penalty kick. Although the home team claimed the lead minutes later, the visitors remained in striking distance into the second half. But Central Washington’s dominant scrum and powerful carries chipped away at the Cougars, and some later-game scores put some distance on the scoreboard.
“The majority of Central Washington’s points, from my observation, came from breaking through our defensive line,” Johnston said. “And so something we want to work on in the upcoming game is making sure we’re coming up together on defense, that we’re shifting and being quicker and more intense with our tackles.
“And honestly we’re a much smaller team than previous years and so the scrums were pretty hard. We struggled there,” she continued. “With that said, we had a lot of new players in the scrum and so that experience was very important for them to have. We just didn’t have the rugby IQ to know how to deal with that situation. But we stuck together and were really supportive of each other in the scrum. You don’t want to be your own worst enemy and hate on your own teammates.”
Johnston explained that the backs have lots of experience, even when one of its captains, USA U20 Rachel Strasdas, was absent from the line. When the ball did move wide or the backs integrated with their kick-and-chase, the game opened up. Both wings, Lyons and Baylie Duce, scored tries, and there were other opportunities to put up points.
“Everyone felt like we were in it, especially since we played the majority of the game in their half and got super close to the try line,” Johnston said. “We just couldn’t finish and get those points on the scoreboard.”
Johnston was proud of everyone’s performances on the day, but there were standouts.
“One player in particular comes to mind: Ashlyn [Westhora]. She played lock,” Johnston said. “It was her first-ever game and I remember seeing her on defense, just running at the girls and not afraid to tackle anyone. It was inspiring for me – to see someone who’s never played before tackle like that. ‘I need to come out with that same oomph. I need to come out with that same intensity.’ I was so proud of her. She’s struggling with the insecurities you develop when you’re just learning the game, but she did way better than she thinks she did and really proved herself.”
BYU was supposed to play the University of Arizona this weekend but the canceled match allows for another week of training in advance of the CWU rematch. The game will occur March 13 in Provo, Utah, and Johnston is ecstatic for the home opener.
“I definitely think so, especially because we got all the nerves out from the first game,” Johnston said whether seeing CWU so soon is a good thing. “We can be constructive and see where are strengths and weaknesses are, and we have a couple of weeks to work on that. Then we’ll be at home and have that advantage. The first time I played Central Washington was at home. We won that game and I still have memories of how super exciting it was.”
For more information on the DIA season, click here for the schedule, results, lineups, live-stream links, and a running tally of point-scorers.