Central’s women’s rugby team, ranked second in nation, sent the Western Washington University (WWU) Vikings packing 119-0 in a home game on Oct. 25, making it their second game of the season to hit triple digits and bringing their overall record to 7-0.

“It was a developmental game where it allowed us to let all of players get some practice,” head coach Mel Denham said. “[WWU] is currently in D2, and looking to move up to D1 so playing against us was a good chance for them to test their team and for us to work on our basics.”

With last game’s score, the Wildcats surpassed their previous highest score of the season of 100 against Washington State University (WSU), and are starting to prepare for their next match against Oregon State University (OSU) on Oct. 31.

“Last year, [OSU] was more of a developmental game for us, but it is our first official league match of the season so we’re going out there like it’s any other game,” senior Katerina Long said, a center who joined the team in 2012.

Despite the title of a developmental game, the team takes each opponent seriously in order to train and make sure that the new players have an opportunity to learn now that the team is getting larger.

“The team has definitely grown a lot. Our skill has a lot of depth now, and one of the major differences for that is the resources that we have,” Long said. “The weight-room is available to us as a team, and we practice everyday. We even have enough players to play both sides of the field.”

With this year being Long’s last season on the team, she feels that it’s important that all of the new players are confident with their positions going into the next year.

“I’m excited to see everyone grow. We have a lot of freshman joining this year, so we’re gaining a lot of depth,” Long said. “So we’re making sure that everyone is comfortable playing going into the playoffs.”

Long is confident about the team going forward, and excited to see the future of the team.

This is sophomore Valerie Tobin first year with women’s rugby, and she uses the developmental games to practice her basics and try new roles on the field.

“They’re teaching me the formations, tackling and positioning. This is definitely a big change for me, but there’s good chemistry between me and the other players and I felt really good during the game,” said Tobin. “[Developmental] games have been very helpful and every practice, if I have questions, the other players have helpful answers. They understand that I’m still learning and work with me to get better.”

As far as developmental games go, the team still takes into account the issues that they faced going against OSU last year, when the Wildcats came away with a 115-0 victory. Central will also be missing a few starters this time around.

“We played them last year and we struggled in the first half, but we’re expecting anything out of this year,” Denham said. “It’d be good to play them with a full bench, but we have a few starters that are injured currently, so it’s good that we have a few [new] players stepping up to play this year.”