After falling short against Penn State University (PSU) for the women’s rugby national championship, the Wildcat women were named Women’s College Team of the Year by ThisIsAmericanRugby.com.

The team made it to the national championship in both 7s and 15s action in just their first year as a varsity sport at Central, but lost both games to PSU.

Head coach Mel Denham, who played for the United States’ women’s national rugby team, credited the team’s work on and off the field.

“It’s a huge sort of testament to the work the girls are putting in,” Denham said. “All the work we’re doing off the field has sparked that growth so quickly.”

The women will look to build on last year’s finish and take home the national title this year.

“Our goal is always improvement…our goal last year was to make it to the final four and the championship final which we ended up doing,” Denham said. “Our next goal now is to win that game.”

The team has started this school year strong, going 9-0 during the fall and beating every opponent by at least double digits.

Junior lock Carrie Vaillancourt emphasized that last year was a lot of players’ first-year together and those players have returned with last year’s experience under their belt.

“I think a big thing is that our team is so new,” Vaillancourt said. “It was our first year in DI and our first year together.”