Sam Tancredi ended her high school career like many of the student-athletes who are recruited for collegiate ball. The former North Bay (Md.) captain was one of the best players on her home club and had been in the USA age grade system since age 15. So when she joined a highly successful DI Elite program as a freshman, it was a bit of a shock to return to the ground level, and those adjustments continued as she aged into the USA U20s. But there are no complaints from the current Lindenwood sophomore and U20 leader, who made these choices based on the opportunity to grow.
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“Lindenwood was definitely my number-one choice,” Tancredi said. “It was the school I felt most at home when I visited. The whole team was really accepting of me as a recruit, which was nice to see and made me feel very welcomed. [Head coach Billy Nicholas] did a really great job of recruiting me and checking in on me through junior and senior year, and then Nika [Paogofie-Buyten] was always reaching out to me and seeing where I was at. … I liked the campus and the rugby team, but the criminal justice program also felt right.”
Tancredi graduated high school in spring 2018 and moved to St. Charles, Mo., that fall.
“North Bay prepared me to an extent because I already had a high standard that I was trying to achieve for myself and what my team was trying to do,” Tancredi said of the former High School Club NIT finalist. “But stepping into Lindenwood was a bit of a culture shock: Wow, I’m surrounded by some of the best players in the nation – from many nations – and I’m not the best of the best anymore.
“It was very humbling,” she added. “I did not know as much as I thought I did. I had to take a step back, be the student again and learn a whole new program and different style of rugby that they’re teaching here. … But that’s why I picked Lindenwood – I wanted to keep proving myself and improving. Lindenwood didn’t need me but they wanted me.”
Tancredi played No. 8 with North Bay / Photo: Jackie Finlan
Tancredi reverted to sponge status and soaked up all the intel she could from the varsity forwards. Natalie Gray, McKenna Strong and Paogofie-Buyten provided strong leadership and are still among Tancredi’s resources when she needs insight.
Meanwhile, Tancredi aged into the USA U20s and encountered a new challenge.
“Sam has been a lock pretty much her whole career, but we moved her to prop last year,” USA U20 head coach Ricardo Ramirez said after the most recent camp in Georgia. “That’s been a big thing for us, that players play multiple positions, and we really push them to play at least two different positions so we have that flexibility to interchange them.”
Tancredi was named to the USA U20 squad that traveled to England for the summer 2019 Tri-Nations tournament, which included the host and Canada. There, she received an education at prop.
“Front row is very difficult, especially when going up against strong women who have been doing it for so long,” Tancredi said of the international competition. “The good thing is I came in like a fresh, blank slate; I didn’t come in with any bad habits or techniques, that I know of.
“I was told that I’m on the right path,” Tancredi said of feedback out of England. “My ultimate goal is to make it to a World Cup game, and prop is my best pathway onto the Women’s Eagles team. Also, sometimes I’m too structured in the way I play, so some feedback was ‘play how I play,’ because it really worked when I was out of my head.”
The sophomore also left England with the goal of becoming physically stronger and more knowledgeable in her new position – which then became her new position at Lindenwood.
“Billy has always been very up front about the fact that people are going to play where it’s going to best help the team and best benefit everyone,” Tancredi said of the positional move with her home club. “All the varsity props have really helped me. Mary [Healy], Nina [Tuilaepa], Izzy [Manu] have been very influential and they’ll watch me and help me fix my form since it’s such a big change.
“I’m definitely loving it,” she affirmed. “I really enjoy the front row and have a bigger appreciation for it. It’s increased my rugby IQ so much more. I always had an idea of how to prop but now I’m learning exactly how to approach it. Now it’s about getting those minuscule techniques down and making little adjustments.”
When Tancredi returned to the USA U20s during the February 2020 camp, she had a semester-plus of propping with Lindenwood behind her. For this assembly, however, her role was elevated to that of the leadership group, which included Cassidy Bargell (Harvard), Sophia Haley (Dartmouth) and Matalasi Morrissette (BYU).
“It was really great to get back on the field with the leadership group,” Tancredi said. “The four of us work really well together. We think similarly but since we come from different clubs and teams, we bring different ideas about the game and ways to lead.
“Something I knew I really wanted to try and work on was making sure the culture worked really well,” Tancredi said of goals heading into camp. “I believe that culture wins games, because if you have a bad culture then you’re not working together. Technique and skills can be taught but everyone has to be connecting and working together, and we’ve got to ingrain that. We wanted to get everyone talking to everyone and broke up little cliques and made people sit next to different people during meals. We’d give them little questions for them to answer – find someone who likes the same season as you or has the same number of siblings – ways to get them to know each other.”
Ramirez praised the leadership group for their initiative off of the pitch, and it flowed into the group’s high work rate and focus.
“I really think it did translate by the end of camp,” Tancredi said of the impact. “There was this one practice where everyone was just on it and we got through everything really well and people were asking the right questions and intensity was there. You could feel the energy. We clicked a lot better than we might have in the last few years that I’ve been in the pathway.”
That assembly served as a selection camp for summer fixtures; however, as Tancredi pointed out, players weren’t competing under that pressure.
“Yes, this will help decided who is chosen for the summer, but it’s not an end-all, be-all,” she said. “Everyone has their own path.”
Tancredi’s immediate path leads to rehab, as a non-rugby injury has sidelined the Lion until, hopefully, mid-April. Once the healing is complete, she’ll join Lindenwood’s quest to defend its 7s and 15s national championships, and maintain a good life balance with academic pursuits within the criminal justice field.
“It is what I thought it would be, sort of, but I don’t think I knew how much I was going to grow as a person and player over the next few years,” Tancredi compared pre-college expectations with reality. “I thought I’d hit where I was supposed to be and didn’t think I’d get much better or my IQ would grow much more, but everything I’ve done has helped me grow exponentially. I definitely didn’t think I’d be a prop – that was the last thing on my mind.”
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