Sacred Heart Ready to Keep Climbing: Cunningham

06.11.2024

Perhaps the biggest upstart program in women's collegiate rugby this year was Sacred Heart.

The Pioneers emerged as a playoff team in NIRA D1, going 5-1 in the regular season before bowing out to Harvard. They beat Army, Brown, Mount St. Mary's, Navy, and LIU, losing just a close one to Quinnipiac. Yes, true, they didn't play the two eventual NIRA D1 finalists, Harvard and Dartmouth, but the results were still very strong.

With some key recruits—Olivia and Reece Woods, Josie O'Donnell, and Reese Torticill most obvious but others as well—the Pioneers got a jolt. But experienced leaders, headed up by Aly Cunningham, had already set the platform.

See our first list of college commits, including Sacred Heart's incoming freshmen>>

Following on that SHU put together a strong 7s spring, culminating May 3-4 at the CRAA Women's Premier 7s with a Plate Championship. In that tournament they beat Life University to take 5th and the Plate.

"We do look at the season overall as a win," Cunningham told GRR. "You can't go from Z to A right away, so every game and every tournament is a building block. Our first game at home last fall was against Army and we got a great showing from our fans. The feeling we got from the fans seeing us player and supporting us, and with us putting in a good performance, got us feeling that we are making a name for our team."

It was certainly a good start, and it gave many a look at some of the first-year player, and how they fit into a team that was already on the rise.

"There were some freshmen that we knew would be good right away and we expected a few more to be surprises," said Cunningham. "And we got a lot out of our first-year players, and also from sophomores like Ashley Torres-Brown and Avonlea Wood. They all came together really well and I think it was a step forward for us."

On to 7s, where SHU has been a contender a little bit longer. That tournament was full of very good teams and almost every game was close.

"We knew it was going to be a fight," said Cunningham. "We thought we had a good team and we were really grateful to have this kind of challenge. We didn't win it, but getting 5th meant a lot to the seniors and the grad students. Beating Life at the end was a really good cap to the season and to the careers of the players who are graduating."

Those include somewhat unsung performers such as senior center Makena Wright.

Cunningham is not graduating; she has perhaps two more fall seasons, depending on her plans. The lanky fullback who is a dangerous counter-attacker and one who has the field vision to slot in as flyhalf whenever she's needed. A Sorensen Award nominee, Cunningham is a big part, but not the only part, of Sacred Heart Rugby.

"We are going into next year knowing we have built something," said Cunningham. "We have players coming back, some coming back for a fifth year. And with the work Coach [Michelle] Reed is doing we're going to keep building."

The key to it all, said Cunningham, is pressure. There is a lot of pressure in NIRA D1, and she says its good pressure. Much will be asked of the younger players, but the leadership is there, too.

All of this has done the job for the school—colleges often adopt rugby as a varsity sport to help raise their profile and that has certainly happened at Sacred Heart.

"It's a great school," said Cunningham, who is a double major in Business Analytics and Business Management. "They're opening a brand new freshman dorm, which is gorgeous. The professors are great. We're getting a name. This was a commuter school that now has a much wider reach. Now all we need to do is get to work."

Sacred Heart Ready to Keep Climbing: Cunningham

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