Pregame Release (PDF)
Game Program (PDF)
CHARLESTON, Ill. -- After blistering Ball State, 90-0, last weekend to start the 2009 season, the Eastern Illinois women's rugby squad is set to host Grand Valley State on Saturday (Sept. 12) in the Panthers' home opener. Kickoff is scheduled for noon at EIU's Lakeside Rugby Field.
PANTHERS HOME OPENER ...
... Eastern takes it's program-high and current 17-game winning streak into Saturday's home opener with Grand Valley State.
... Last week, the Panthers blistered Ball State, 90-0.
... Eastern is 9-2 overall in home openers, with the two loses coming at the hands of Illinois back in early 2000 and 2001.
... The Panthers have recorded 44 shutouts the last eight seasons. EIU's largest margin of victory, 124-0, was achieved against Michigan State in 2006.
... During this same time period, EIU has outscored the opposition an astounding 5,010 to 371.
QUOTING COACH GRAZIANO ...
“Obviously our confidence is good because we played well last weekend. The score is irrevalent, it's how we played in our opener that counts. I had hoped we would play well, cause you just never know what you might get in the first game, but we tackled well and got into our offensive patterns right away.
Grand Valley State is a very well coached squad. Plus they have an experienced team, which is different then our team this year. Yes, we have some experience, but we also have freshman playing in some crucial spots. So I expect our game on Saturday to be much different than last week, we'll have to play well.
It's nice to be home and in front of our loyal fans. The weekend weather forecast is projected to be nice, so we should get a nice day and expect a nice crowd.
Last Saturday,
Chase Cain played well for us, coming close to setting a new singe-game tackle mark, with her 19 stops. last weekend. Stephanie Millitello is now focusing more on offense this year, which is by design. Chase is a pure hustler and tackler, which is where she is successful, so we just turn her loose. Stephanie had a good offensive start in her slightly changed roll. If we play a game where we are in need of more tackles, we can always move Militello into that role as well this year.
Our speed has been good.
Crystal Jones is still off to a great start in her senior year, scoring four at Ball State. We have adjusted our offensive patterns a bit which will allow her to get the ball more. Actually all our seniors played well, including
Ashley Jenkins, Stefanie and Chase.
Was pleased with the performance of our scrum-half/fly-half, Namissa Ramirez.
Coartney McKinney also had a nice start in her new spot. Flyhalf is a very difficult position to play. Coartney's kicking was great, making some very difficult kicks look easy. Which will gives us some options, too, as we normally don't go for a penalty kick very often, but it may be important for her to get us a couple of penalty kicks this season, especially once games are tight and we need to score.
Our lineouts and scrums went well last weekend, with
Anne Schnura throwing the ball in on the lineouts very well, while also hooking good in the scrum, too. Meanwhile,
Tiffany Kennedy has hands like glue, as she has been able to grab everything that Anne throw at her off the lineout.”
UP NEXT FOR EIU ...
Next week the Panthers will travel to Ames, Iowa to face the Cyclones of Iowa State. Kickoff is set for noon on Sat., Sept. 19. EIU owns a 2-0 all-time series lead over ISU, winning a tough 26-21 battle last season at home.
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... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID
