Antonio Olivero / aolivero@summitdaily.com
BRECKENRIDGE — In its first action since losing to an in-state Colorado team for the first time in 12 years, the Summit High School varsity girls rugby team defeated Glenwood Springs 47-0 and 21-12 in a pair of games Tuesday evening.
Under the lights at Tiger Stadium, Tuesday’s contests served as homecoming for the Tigers program, and Summit head coach Karl Barth sent out junior varsity squads in the first and third games, playing the Tigers varsity in the second and fourth games.
Since its loss to Arapahoe in the championship game of the Lumberjackie 7s tournament Sept. 28, Barth said Summit has reemphasized the importance of reading attacking options on the offensive end.
“Choosing from the attack we have, as opposed to just trying to go, ‘Hey, we can beat people wide. Let’s go there first,’” Barth said. “We’ve been working a lot on trying to read what’s in front of us and try to make some better decisions. And stay really connected in terms of our communication.”
The Tigers varsity team in the two varsity games Tuesday played a mixture of regular starters, departing seniors and young freshman vying for playing time ahead of this weekend’s Pink 7s tournament in Salt Lake City. In the first varsity game, junior McKenna Orr began the scoring with a wide run, starting inside before popping out, jetting past the entire Glenwood team. Freshman Paola Arredondo Almeida then added the next score before junior Brielle Quigley tacked on two more scores before the end of the first half.
In the second half, senior PK Vincze scored on a play where sophomore Olyvia Snyder changed the point of attack. Junior Bryton Ferrari and senior Kaitlyn Wertz also scored in the 47-0 win.
For the nightcap second varsity game, Barth gave his seniors, playing in their last game at Tiger Stadium, the choice of starting the game together or finishing the second half. The seniors opted to finish the game, which was a more physical contest.
“They have some good players who definitely came out with some fire in their belly,” Barth said.
Scores from sophomore Jenna Sheldon and seniors Logan Simson and Nicole Kimball led the Tigers to the 21-12 win in the nightcap.
After the two victories for the Summit varsity Tuesday night, the Tigers will head to Salt Lake City on Thursday afternoon for the Pink 7s tournament. Scheduled to take place Friday and Saturday, its one of the highest-level girls high school rugby tournaments in the country. The Tigers won it last year, though they know what kind of challenge they are in for with several elite teams from several states convening on the Salt Lake City Regional Athletic Complex. That includes a few teams, namely United, who Summit bested at its home Summit 7s tournament at Tiger Stadium in August.
In order to reach the championship game, Barth said the Tigers will need to employ the versatile attack they’ve worked to dial in the past week and a half since losing to Arapahoe. That practice included restraints on how Summit’s varsity could create scoring opportunities Tuesday.
“We’ve put some parameters on what we can do for attack,” Barth said. “We’ve limited it to, ‘You have to be in these spaces to generate our attack,’ just so we can kind of engrain it.”