Photo courtesy of Lyn Sleimann '24. Mitsuki Ito '26, pictured above, plays rugby at the Mount Holyoke College intersquad scrimmage.
By Emily Tarinelli ’25
Sports Editor
Mount Holyoke Rugby made the difficult decision to pull out of the University of Vermont’s “Ruggers Supporting Survivors” tournament after the majority of participating teams withdrew from the event, likely the result of a scheduling conflict with the weekend’s numerous major religious holidays. The tournament, which took place on Sunday, April 9, was a fundraiser for HOPE Works, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending sexual assault and supporting survivors. It featured speakers and advocates from HOPE Works who delivered a talk before the start of the matchup, as well as UVM’s senior recognition ceremony.
“Our plan was to travel there on Saturday, [and] spend the time we had that day bonding and building community before going to UVM to play on Sunday. We were supposed to play four 40-minute games and would have returned Sunday night,” forwards captain Skye Gorman ’24 said.
Because the six-hour round trip to UVM and back would have required tight carpooling and a hotel arrangement, all to face off a single Division I team as a Division III school, attending the tournament was no longer feasible for Mount Holyoke.
“We determined that it would be better to reserve our team resources rather than travel all the way there to play one game,” Gorman said.
Now, the Lyons look forward to their next competition at Smith College on Sunday, April 16, and their final tournament of the season, Prom Dress Rugby, for which athletes will don their most formal attire at Babson College the following weekend.
Despite the change of plans, Mount Holyoke Rugby refused to let the anticipated playing time go to waste. To make up for the missed tournament, the team decided to host an intersquad scrimmage and a variety of team-building activities here at home, including mini-games and “Rugby Olympics.”
“It wasn’t a super organized thing,” Izzy Jarvis-Stores ’26 explained of the latter. “We just divided the team into three little mini teams, and there were little games and challenges [that we participated in.] It was fun.”
“It wasn’t a super organized thing. We just divided the team into three little mini teams, and there were little games and challenges [that we participated in.] It was fun.”
“We had many different team challenges involving kicking, passing, tackling, agility and more,” Gorman said.
Since the team bonding events took place on Easter Sunday, the head coach designed a small egg hunt for the team as one of the activities.
“It was really cute,” Izzy Jarvis-Stores ’26 said. “It was kind of like Field Day in elementary school.”
After the games, Jarvis-Stores said the team was divided into teams of 10 athletes each and played each other in a short but successful game at the rugby pitch outside Kendall Sports and Dance Complex.
“Mount Holyoke won,” Jarvis-Stores joked.