Highlanders Girls Rugby Takes Home Taylor Division Banner

The senior girls rugby team went into the weekend with more students tied to the bench than the field with several juniors on the team and seniors out with injuries and IB exams. The theme of the weekend was resilience – several students were placed in unfamiliar positions, but we completed a successful first day with two wins against Rothesay (36-0) and Park View (31-24).  

Before our game on Saturday, our girls got the opportunity to watch the senior women’s game between the Keltics and Abbies. When I teach leadership classes on Wednesdays during cadets, I always promote "leading by example" as one of the best forms of leadership. Whether it was tearing up the field, flying high in the air on lineouts, tackling low, or rucking hard, Coach Kenzie Cecchetto '18 demonstrated what great rugby looks like and earned a new level of respect from the team. 

With even more girls away with basketball on Saturday, the team played their best game yet but came up short against TOSH who showed both speed and skill (18-10). 

With the return of Gabby Shaw '25, Clare Munro '24, Grace Allison '25, as well as Lena Falkenberger '24 coming out of her short retirement, the spirits were high on Sunday morning. Our ability to work as a team led us to a strong win over Moncton (26-5) which gave us the opportunity to face TOSH yet again in the final. Although TOSH played a great game, we were hungry to earn our own banner back with a close but exciting victory (22-15). 

Several players stood out and earned player of the match including Addie Burnett '25, Cara Van Schaick '25, Frances Aceron '24, Liz Hardy '24, and Kaya Ullrich '25. Although several students stepped up to the plate, no one can dig deep quite like Ava Shearer '24. Even with an injured foot, she proved to be the player of the tournament by scoring 11 of our 20 tries.

The banner may be an indicator of success, but more importantly, I can guarantee that our team had the most fun. With lively Spanish and German chants, the quickest water runs, and the best warm-up dance moves, the team had a blast start to finish.

We are a very proud coaching staff!