An Update from Kim Semiglia of FIU - Onto the Final Four!

Kim sent this update to me last weekend but some issues with our blogging platform have prevented publication. FIU played in the USA Rugby Division 2 Collegiate Semifinals this weekend and were upset by Mary Washington. They played for 3rd today against University of Indiana Pennsylvania and unfortunately dropped the match 19-17. Here's her update from last weekend:

"Though it was the first round of 16 appearance for FIU Women’s Rugby, we were very confident in all the hard work we have put this season. Our first challenge was to play University of North Georgia, the South Individual Rugby Conference champions, who had an undefeated season. It was a challenging game but we came out victorious beating them 67-17. We went into the half with a close score, but managed to break away with a comfortable lead quickly in the second half.  

Our next challenge was to beat Lee University;  we knew we would have a hard challenge because of the
fact that they beat the team who had eliminated us last year 60-10 in the following round. However, we still went into the match with a lot of confidence and this allowed us to defeat Lee University 36-17 in a come from behind victory.

We went into the half down 12-10. They then scored the first try of the 2^nd half around the 60^th minute making the score 17-10. We were down until the 67^th minute when we finally tried and converted to make it a tie game. Very quickly after, we scored back to back to back tries to pull off the comeback.  It was an amazing experience. Having lost in the round of 64 last year in Georgia, we were so excited when the referee blew the final whistle and we were on top.  The win against Lee secured our spot in the Final 4 in California. We will continue our momentum into the Final 4 representing Florida and feel very confident in the hard work we have put into this team.

The Stars program definitely helped me this spring season in many ways. First, it exposed me to higher level play; it gave me the opportunity to see great rugby players in action. This allowed me to see what I personally could work on to become a greater player. For example, one thing I noticed that was common among all the best players was that they had great speed and a solid pass. Watching this made me realize how important the two are and so it gave me a new zeal to work on the two religiously on my own time. If there's one main thing I took out of the whole stars experience in Vegas, I would say that it definitely was a greater desire to train and become better.

My training since Vegas has definitely gotten better than it was before Vegas and my pass and speed has definitely improved since. Additionally,  I believe as a fly half of a super fast team , it is my duty for the sake of the team to be able to efficiently distribute the ball to all the talent we have. The training that resulted from Vegas has ultimately helped me help my team."