Sacred Heart University has made quite the leap. This time last year, the Pioneers were competing in NSCRO and advanced to the championship against fellow small college Roger Williams. Today, Sacred Heart is an NCAA DI varsity program facing the likes of Notre Dame College, AIC, and Norwich. That’s a sharp uptick in competition, but fortunately, the program has Michelle Reed at the helm. The former Quinnipiac assistant coach has firsthand experience in elevating a team to varsity status.

First, one has to have the right people, both on staff and on the roster. Since Sacred Heart had an existing club team, Reed needed to find out which of those athletes wanted to support the inaugural varsity season.

“I had about 12 players who stayed,” Reed said of returners. “All of the seniors, except one or two, quit. They were excited about the move, but they wanted to concentrate their senior years on internships, academics, and getting a job.”

Reed focused her recruitment efforts on campus and had realistic expectations for the fall 2015 class.

“I’ve done this two or three times before,” Reed explained. “Kids get interested over the summer, then they reconsider and have to figure things out. Some will come on and quit right away, having never gone to a practice.”

Reed is fortunate to have two assistant coaches who help mitigate the stress of a transition year. Jennifer Saloman is a Quinnipiac graduate who served as captain her senior year. She’s a founding member of the Bobcats’ first team – which was incepted as a varsity team – and knows the rigors of building from the ground up. Volunteer coach Domenique Watkins is especially vital. The Sacred Heart grad was an all-star prop for the club team, and now she advocates the varsity lifestyle to all of the players and the alumni.

Currently, the team is sitting at 17 members, and Reed is looking for 20-25 players next year. The university would prefer a roster upward of 30 but is aware that that might take a few years to achieve. Scholarships will certainly help, and the women’s rugby team is in the process of making that benefit a reality.

Much like finding the right people, Reed has positioned the rugby program to be fully NCAA compliant in its first varsity season. It’s a tougher road – adhering to the recruitment calendar, processing athletes through the clearinghouse, not exceeding the limit of games, among many other requirements – “but we want to do it right the first time, so we don’t have to transition again sometime in the future,” Reed explained.

Sacred Heart has laid a similarly tough road through its first varsity season, as well. After a two-and-a-half-week preseason, the Pioneers warmed up against Molloy College last Saturday for a 52-35 win. But now the team prepares for the likes of DI powers Norwich, American International College, and Notre Dame College. Reed saw some good things last weekend, but there is some apprehension about the strength of opposition ahead.

“During pre-season, we drilled the fundamentals, especially passing, and Emily Mignogni, who had never played the game before, developed a really nice spin pass,” Reed said of the newly appointed scrumhalf. “I see her as potentially one of our best players. She is the kind of athlete who does whatever you ask of her, and she picks up things really well.”

Mignogni had the support of returning club player Kaitlyn McNicholas at flyhalf. The junior is very athletic, and Reed sees a lot of scoring potential there once McNicholas fully understands the systems the coach is putting in place. Same goes for forward Rachel Mazza.

“They used to call her ‘tank,’” Reed said of the veteran. “She’s a good athlete, but needs a little motivation. She’s excited about rugby in general, but this discipline is new to her. She’s adapted to it well, and once we get her in better shape with the strength-and-conditioning we do here, she’s really going to blossom in the next year.”

All three played well on Saturday, and the team showed some resilinece when it rallied from a first-half deficit to pull away in the second stanza.

“In the second half, we finally started communicating with each other on the field,” Reed spoke to the positives in Saturday’s win. “And we started executing a few things like kickoff returns. We definitely need more conditioning – they even asked for it after the game – and understanding things like depth, especially on passes off the ruck. And defense – that was a high-scoring game. All that comes with conditioning and fitness and positioning.”

Notre Dame College is traveling to Connecticut from Ohio this weekend, and the match will be a first look into where the Pioneers figure in the varsity landscape.

“They want to achieve, and they also realize this is a higher level than they’ve ever seen before,” Reed said. “They have a team goal that if they lose, they don’t want it to be by more than 15-20 points. They get it, they’re nervous, but I have a great coaching staff and everyone’s positive. If we play to our potential, I think we’ll be better than what people expect.”