Queens University of Charlotte took an unfamiliar path in launching their varsity rugby program, but in year two the women’s team is primed to challenge the best of Division 1 women’s rugby. 

In March of 2017 Katie Wurst was announced as the Director of Rugby at Queens University of Charlotte which “worked out perfectly because [Wurst] was getting ready to go to several rugby tournaments across the US.” The unconventional part was that the brand new varsity program’s inaugural season was five months away and Wurst had no players and no equipment.

The Unique Path 

Most club teams that transition to the varsity level have a roster of experienced college club players that punched above their weight in prior seasons. Queens had a blank roster sheet and a director of rugby in Katie Wurst with years of experience at every level of coaching, playing, and broadcasting the game. Wurst also had a road trip of high school tournaments to recruit from, scholarship money, and a network of grassroots coaches that she had compiled in her experience as a coach educator. 

By the start of the 2017 season Wurst “brought in 15 unique students, meaning players that transferred or were incoming freshman.” The women’s program was also able to “attract a third of the players from the athletic women of the student body.” One of those players is the Royals standout Ella Brucker.

Hidden Gem

Brucker was a three-sport high school athlete and found rugby while interning with the admissions department. Coach Wurst and Ella Brucker traded a few emails, got some coffee, talked rugby and got Brucker out to practice. Brucker had never played the game before but suited up as a center and led the team in scoring while posting a 3.8 GPA. 

Brucker is currently competing amongst the best women's players in the nation at the Collegiate All-Americans camp at Dartmouth University. Brucker and the other invitees will be scouted and tracked with the end goal of playing for the United States National team in the World Cup in 2021. 

Going Forward

The Royals Women’s program went 14-5 in its inaugural season, and won the Shield in the USA Rugby Collegiate 7s National Championships. This season Queens will compete in the Division 1 Mason-Dixon Conference with NC State, Clemson, UNC, Clemson, USC, UVA, and Pittsburgh. 

The addition of Queens helped realign the conference to a North/South division format, “helping the travel factor considerably,” said Wurst. The D1 side will compete with massive schools like NC State who has an undergrad population of 34,000 to 1,617 for Queens. The strength of the Queens program is their resources and player development. “The objective is to have two teams at different levels of competition; exposing the most players we can and pushing those players to the peak of their ability as rugby players and students.” The Royals have a full season planned for their D2 side to compete with National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO) teams like Elon, Citadel, and Lander.

Reload

Wurst has already announced nine new incoming athletes with rugby experience that will push the incumbents for playing time in the program (Below). This is the largest haul of committed rugby players of any team in women's collegiate rugby. Ella Brucker (Sr.)  and Bridget Mielke (So.) will be players to watch this season, each coming into their second season with the program and into their first season as D1 college athletes.