Coming off a difficult stretch of competition that included losses to Division II stalwarts College of the Holy Cross and the University of Scranton, the Brandeis Women's Rugby club rebounded in stellar fashion this past weekend. Led by Head Coach Brian Casey, Captain Jen Wahl '02 and a solid contingent of graduating seniors, the Lady Judges capped another winning season with home victories over Keene State University and Mt. Holyoke College during a Saturday doubleheader.Against Keene State, the squad was led by the efforts of Emily Malkin '05 and Lauree Hayden '03, as the two combined for three scores en route to a decisive 17-5 Brandeis victory.
Had the Judges converted on all three of their conversion kicks, the ultimate margin of victory would have been 16 (21-5).
Each rugby "try" counts for five points with the potential for an additional two on the ensuing kick attempt.

Brandeis was just as dominant against local rival Mt. Holyoke, as the final tally of 17-0 clearly attests to. With Hayden and Pamela White '02 notching one and two "tries," respectively, Casey's squad left the playing field with a final mark of 4-3-1 on the year. The contest was also the swan song for nine Lady Judges, each of whom has contributed immensely to the newfound success of the Brandeis rugby program.

Nearly overcome by emotion, Wahl spoke briefly on the prospects of what is certain to be a revamped team come 2003.
"Obviously the loss of all the seniors will affect the team, but I'm proud to say that the group has just become really strong and I expect they'll rebound in the fall," she said. "It's encouraging to know that we're now able to replenish the roster with talented recruits when once we couldn't do that."

On the traditional match-ups with Keene and Holyoke, Wahl noted how the team responded to the D-II debacles and came ready to play.

"Both of those teams are traditionally worthy opponents," she said. "So we wanted to use the Holy Cross and Scranton losses to our advantage by learning from them and improving upon the mistakes we had made. For all the seniors, it was a great moment to go out with two wins against a couple schools that are always competitive.