For the majority of Morgan Yankee’s career with Marquette, the team has struggled for minimum numbers and also weathered multiple coaching changes. Nevertheless, last year saw the Wisconsin team come within two points of the DII Great Waters conference champion, UW Oshkosh, in the league semifinals, and that near-loss became a turning point for the squad.
“People were crying and upset. You could tell that the team wanted it,” senior captain Yankee recalled the 17-15 semifinal loss to Oshkosh. “We barely had 15 girls but we knew we could have had it. That stoked our fire.”
A core of players, who were stung by the loss and emboldened by the team’s potential, committed to the eBoard and re-established a set of values and goals that would promote growth. Yankee continues to serve as president and captain, and VP Kat Prompson is being primed to take over when the senior graduates.
“The people on the eBoard are really strong in rugby but they also have really strong leadership skills. They were looking for that push to take the club to the next level,” Yankee praised the fellow board members. “They love the sport and want to make sure the club continues at Marquette.”
Maria O’Dea took over as fundraising chair and has taken an innovative approach to not only sourcing monies but also elevating the team’s presence among the university, fans and parents. These creative minds helped build more momentum, and then focus shifted to voracious recruitment.
“Because of the leadership we had in the past, we didn’t really recruit or have the drive to go out there and pull people in,” Yankee said. “The idea we had was if we want to go farther, then we need a big team, so we pushed for numbers [instead of targeted recruitment]. … This year we hit the jackpot and have 34, 35 players. When we started practicing, we didn’t really know what we were getting ourselves into with so many girls who have never played before, but they have a lot of talent.”
Kurt White is the head coach and returned in the fall to a much larger group. The pack showcases more experience, but freshmen Brielle Ebben and Ryley Rand immediately worked into the starting lineup.
“Which is pretty crazy,” Yankee said of the second rows. “But they work hard and mesh so well. We threw them in the lineout in their first game and they did exactly what we taught them.”
There are more, newer players in the backs, but they all have good speed and started to sync during a 31-5 opening win against UW Whitewater. That set up a rematch against UW Oshkosh in round two. Yankee opened the match with a try, but then the defending conference champion put down 22-straight points before Marquette mounted a response.
“We knew Oshkosh was really fast. Their back line is very quick,” Yankee called out center Grace Begotka and fullback Greyson Seizart, who have scored 10 of Oshkosh’s 14 tries this season. “The way to mitigate that is with a lot of forward play. We did a lot of picking and going and got them on their back feet. We were pounding on them in the pack, one after another, and we noticed that their defense really sucked in. The space opened up for more room and then it was an even matchup.”
Marquette then responded with six unanswered tries to win 39-22.
“Everyone was happy and hugging each other, especially those players who returned from last year’s game,” Yankee said of post-match reactions. “That game bonded us, too. It’s really hard to form those bonds with people you haven’t played that long with, but that solidified it between players. We’re learning how to play with each other and have a vision of where we can be in the future. We’re even more pumped now.”
Marquette followed with a 51-14 win over UW La Crosse, and has its final regular-season match this weekend against unscored-upon UW Platteville, which is NSCRO eligible. The Great Waters playoffs follow, and it begins with crossover quarterfinals between the league’s three pools.
“The first step is just winning the conference – that’s the main goal since we didn’t win it last year,” Yankee said. “But even if we don’t make it that far, this team will not have many seniors leaving – me and one other person – so this will be a good starting point for next year’s team to go even farther.”
Marquette competes in the Central pool. In the North, NSCRO’s Northern Michigan and UW Eau Claire are undefeated, and in the South, Chicago and UIC are early leaders. Great Waters traditionally receives two berth to the regional fall championships, which begin at the Round of 32. Click here for more results.
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