The Grand Valley State University women’s rugby club team defeated Eastern Illinois University 17-5 at home on Saturday, snapping the visiting Panthers’ almost three-year unbeaten streak.

GVSU’s victory marked the end of a 29-game winning streak for Eastern Illinois, who is widely regarded as one of the top women’s rugby schools in the country. Prior to facing GVSU, they had only allowed five points total against Ball State University, Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame, winning 59-0, 75-5 and 59-0, respectively.

Led by All-American senior Joanna Kitlinski, the Lakers amassed another quality win against a NCAA Division I varsity opponent. Prior to beating Eastern Illinois, the Lakers defeated Central Michigan University 105-5.

Before the game, coach Bob Richthammer was excited just to be playing such a well-known, respected team.

“It’s going to be an important game against a well-established program,” Richthammer said. “It’s going to be tough.”

While not yet a full-time varsity sport, coach Richthammer was hopeful that the recent promotion of women’s lacrosse to a varsity sport will help pave the way for rugby to follow suit in a few years.

“It’s been a grassroots efforts since I arrived here six years ago,” he said. “But we’ve been building a good team that I would like to see maybe three or four years down the road become a full varsity (squad).”

The university and Richthammer have already established the program to be a legitimate contender by securing top recruits away from other top NCAA Division I varsity programs, such as Penn State University, the Air Force Academy and Eastern Illinois. The recruits can receive scholarships largely funded by the coaching staff and alumni.

Richthammer cited the need to continue to play against top programs in order for the univerisity’s team to improve.

“We can film the games, but you cannot simulate the speed of a game,” he said. “It’s very fast paced. Playing a team that will come at us and attack us gives us a good chance to work on our defense and adapt to the speed.”

Richthammer also believed Saturday’s game would be good for team unification and bonding, after the thumping against Central Michigan a week before.

“Some of our starters didn’t play a whole lot against Central Michigan,” he said. “We need some time to make sure the entire team gels, since playing together as a team is the most important thing.”

Richthammer was optimistic going into Saturday’s game against Eastern Illinois, but stressed that playing together as a team and gaining the valuable experience that comes with playing against top teams was key to being successful.

“Obviously, we’d like to come away with a win,” he said. “But playing together as a team, and really just getting the experience from playing another established team will be good for what we’re trying to accomplish.”

The remainder of the regular season largely resembles the football schedule, with games played on weekends until mid-December.

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