WKU sport clubs season kicks off over weekend

WKU rugby players attempt to take down one of Hopkinsville’s runners and eventually run him out of bounds. The rugby match was part of the WKU sport clubs opening weekend of events.

Hasani Grayson

The 2011-2012 club sports season got off to a physical start Friday night as the WKU rugby team played host to a team from Hopkinsville. 

Though rugby is the oldest of WKU’s club sports, the team was relatively inexperienced when facing their opponents whose ages ranged from 25 to 40. 

“Playing against a veteran team that have players who have been playing longer than half my team’s been alive, I think we did great,” said WKU rugby head coach John Ferriell after his team lost 59-7. 

The only player to score for WKU was senior Alex Lee of Coram, N.Y., who was nursing a wrist injury when he took the field. 

Lee stayed in the game and helped turn strong defense into an opportunity to get his team on the board when it appeared WKU was going to be scored on again. 

“It was an opportunity where (a teammate) started bobbling the ball around and I just happened to be in the right place,” Lee said. “I just snatched it and ran down the field.”

But for people like Lee, a former high school wrestler, club sports are another avenue to continue playing sports.

Ferriell, who played for WKU and graduated in 2009, expressed the same sentiment.

“It’s good for the school and it’s good for the students who get a chance to play against other colleges,” Ferriell said. “It gives them a chance to say that they’ve been a college athlete.”

The game was just the second time the men’s rugby team has played a night match.

The club sports kickoff weekend ended on Sunday when the women’s club soccer team hosted Middle Tennessee. Halves were shortened from 45 minutes to 35 minutes due to heat.

Bowling Green senior Gabi Simic said that the team will improve as conditioning improves.

“I’m really out of shape to be honest,” she said. 

The match itself appeared to be headed to a scoreless tie when a penalty was awarded to MTSU on a hand ball. Though the it was incidental, the referee awarded a penalty kick that they scored on.

“I think most refs would not have called it but it was so obvious that he kind of had to,” said Crestwood senior Jaclyn Moehlmann, who was playing defense that game.

WKU lost the match, but Simic said she’s looking forward to the rest of the season so she can have fun and get to know her teammates better.