Marquette’s women’s club rugby is one of the oldest women’s club sports on campus. 

Founded in 1994, some players believe that it may be difficult to follow in the footsteps of such a historical Marquette club team. 

Forward Danielle Dominy, a junior in the College of Engineering and club treasurer, said she believes that the team is truly a special group of people. 

“We’re always helping each other out because none of us have ever played before,” Dominy said. “We’re always making funny jokes during practice, and even during games we’re building each other up, giving advice and kindly yelling at each other.” 

Forward flank Emerson Simon, a senior in the College of Health Sciences and one of the team captains, said the team has close to 20 new recruits.

“Having all of these new people that are so excited to learn and excited to play is going to be really awesome,” Simon said. “It’s going to be really great for our program to keep growing.”

The team travels all across the country to compete in matches. Last year, they made it to Houston, Texas to compete in the Women’s National Rugby Championships. The Golden Eagles placed second, falling only to University of Wisconsin Eau-Claire, but Dominy said the team was proud of the performance they had put on. 

“It was nice to be in the top two with another Wisconsin school, and to be able to take that trophy home and be there with such a good group of girls, it was an overall amazing feeling,” Dominy said. 

After going through a lot of injuries leading up to the championship game, team captain Elizabeth Susek, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, was really excited to see where the team ended up.

“Knowing that we got there together and got to play there together, it was a really special moment for our team because we overcame a lot, and we got to show that we were meant to be there and all of our hard work was paying off,” Susek said. 

Even though the Great Waters Rugby Conference ranked Marquette as No. 8 in the Top 20 Coaches Poll for Division II rugby, Dominy said she feels that the club is overlooked by a lot of people.

“Back to back, we have gone to Nationals. My freshman year, we got fourth and last year we got second, so I think our team is very underrated,” Dominy said. “People aren’t fully noticing us.”

Susek said she believes it is an honor to be known as one of the oldest club sports and wants to keep Marquette rugby special. 

“Knowing that there’s this amazing legacy that is behind us, you have this desire to keep this legacy going,” Susek said. 

Simon said she hopes to keep the sport not only at Marquette, but also in the state of Wisconsin.

The team hopes that with a new offense, new players and a tight community, they can continue growing women’s rugby and creating more awareness amongst the student body. 

Dominy said she hopes that anyone comes out to try and get involved with the team. 

“You don’t need prior experience. It’s different and it’s fun, and you learn so much from it,” Dominy said. “Something you might not anticipate, might become something you absolutely love.”

This story was written by Raquel Ruiz. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @raquelrz15.