WEST CHESTER, Pa.- After back-to-back NIRA Tier II Championship game appearances, the West Chester women's rugby team is finishing its preparations for its 2022 season opener on Sunday at New Haven.
In 2021, which was the Golden Rams first traditional fall season since winning a NIRA Tier II National Championship in November 2019, West Chester nearly duplicated its success, registering an undefeated regular season before falling to AIC in the Tier II National Championship at West Point in late November.
West Chester graduated a number of key players from a year ago, including its three leading scorers in All-American turned assistant coach
Autumn Czaplicki,
Julianna Aliprandi, and
Lauren Madalian, however, West Chester does return a number of key components led by
Olyvia Eckard (East Petersburg, Pa./Hempfield) and
Bayla Shindledecker (Clarksburg, Pa./Saltsburg) who ranked fourth and fifth on the team in scoring a year ago. Eckard ended the 2021 season with a pair of trys, four conversions, and three penalty kicks while Shindledecker finished the season with five trys of her own to help bolster the Golden Ram offense throughout the season.
Heading into the new season, West Chester look to the duo of Eckard and Shindledecker along with fellow captains
Heather Spangler (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg) and
Faith Morley (Glenmooore, Pa./Downingtown West) to help lead the Purple and Gold throughout the 2022 campaign. All told, West Chester ended its 2021 fall season with 55 total trys, which helped the Golden Rams outscore opponents 334-126 on the season. For the upcoming season, West Chester returns a little more than half of that scoring offense from a year ago, thanks in large part to tremendous depth throughout the 2021 season.
In addition to its returning core, Head Coach Tony Deremer welcomes a strong group of newcomers ahead of the 2022 season who bring an excellent balance of speed and power to help add to the depth and who are expected to help contribute to the team's success this upcoming season.
West Chester will officially kick off its 2022 season on Sunday morning at New Haven before returning home to face Navy on Saturday, September 24
th in the first of back-to-back home contests for the Golden Rams. Following this match against Navy, West Chester is slated to welcome Queens (N.C.) to the South Campus pitch at 10 a.m. on October 1
st on what is also expected to be senior day for the Golden Rams before visiting Lander and its foe from the 2021 Tier II Championship match AIC ON October 15th and 28
th at 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., respectively. West Chester will conclude its 2022 regular season schedule on Saturday, November 5
th with a rescheduled match against Davenport in Wheeling, West Virginia.
