Women's rugby hosts the 8th annual Prom Dress Rugby Tournament
The MIT Womens Rugby team hosted the 8th annual Prom Dress Rugby Tournament this weekend, matching up against several nearby schools including Amherst, Wellesley, Boston College, and Holyoke. Although MIT had a great showing and won three of their games, Boston College outscored them to win first place.
This tournament is the last competition of the semester for the MIT team and a fun way to end the season.
President of the club Alexa Jaeger ’18 said, “The Prom Dress Tournament is always great. The contrast of playing rugby, which is a pretty rough sport, and wearing prom dresses is funny and teams really enjoy coming to the event.”
Many of the teams that came this year such as Wellesley and Babson have been attending the tournament for years.
The MIT team had a great season this spring thanks in part to successful recruiting in the fall. Doubling the size of their roster, this year’s rookies added some real talent to the team.
Jaeger mentioned two newer players, “Noa Yoder ’19 and Caralyn Cutlip ’17 — this is their first season and they have been running and scoring like crazy.”
Social chair Christi Dawydiak ’16 also praised her new teammates saying “They’re playing at a much higher level than anyone would expect from rookies.”
Both Jaeger and Dawydiak mentioned that many team members never played rugby before joining the MIT team.
“All you have to be able to do is hold a ball and run forward,” said Jaeger, “there are tons of different positions so there is a place for everyone.”
The team isn’t all about the game either. An important aspect of college rugby is socializing with the other teams. After each game or tournament the teams usually gather for food, drinks, and fun to blow off some steam and meet new people. “We beat on each other and then afterward go and eat together, that is one really cool thing about rugby,” said Dawydiak.
Jaeger, who started playing rugby in high school, said she still loves the game now. “You don’t have to be huge, you don’t have to be fast. There really is a place for everyone,” Jaeger said, “I think that’s my favorite thing about rugby.”