Women’s Rugby Continues to Bring It

The women’s rugby team continues to carve a path to success that is otherwise unprecedented in the history of Vassar’s athletics program. After winning back-to-back National Collegiate Rugby Division II championships in 2021 and 2022, the Brewers fell just short this past fall, losing to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, 32–29, in the tournament finals on December 3, 2023, in Houston, TX. The trip to the national finals was Vassar’s fifth in the last six years of tournament play.

Led by coaches Tony Brown and Mark Griffiths and Co-Captains Grace Skakel ’24 and Julie Geller ’24, the Brewers compiled a 7–2 regular-season record before advancing to the finals of the Tri-State Conference championships. The team then posted victories over Coastal Carolina University, Temple University, and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in its march to the national championship game.

Sophia Bailey ’26, who scored three tries in the semifinal win over the Coast Guard Academy and two more in the championship game, said reaching the national finals was a tribute to the team’s resilience. “Despite adjusting to a team consisting largely of first-year players and others who had changed position, we showed our ability to adapt and had an incredibly successful season,” Bailey said.—Larry Hertz