The Catholic Memorial girls rugby team entered the national tournament as an underdog.
After all, last weekend’s USA Girls High School National Invitational Championship in Stanford, Calif., featured plenty of experienced teams that have national championships attached to their résumés and who are familiar with this stage.
The Crusaders were not one of them, as they were competing in their first national tournament. But CM showed throughout the two-day tournament that it was not going to be a pushover.
In fact, the Crusaders almost pulled off two of the biggest upsets in recent years and gave two of the most successful high school teams in history a real scare.
The Crusaders finished fourth, winning its opening-round match to West Carroll (Maryland) before dropping matches to Fallbrook (California) in the semifinals and Divine Savior Holy Angels of Milwaukee in the third-place match.
Fallbrook went on to win the national championship over Lakewood (Ohio), 59-12 – the team’s second straight title. Fallbrook opened the tournament with a 34-0 win over the Sacramento Amazons (California).
Fallbrook also cruised to the championship last year when it did not allow a point in its three matches.
However, the defending champs were tested this time around. One of those tests included its 28-15 semifinal match against Catholic Memorial. While the Crusaders lost, their 15 points were the most Fallbrook has allowed in a match in two years.
That score is more remarkable considering Fallbrook has pitched four shutouts in five of its other most recent national tournament matches.
In its next match, CM put on a strong defensive performance but couldn’t muster enough points to upend in-state rival DSHA in the third-place match, losing 10-8.
While CM was a newcomer to this environment, DSHA was not. The Dashers won six straight national championships from 2004 to 2009.
The Crusaders’ 35-member team is coached by John Waliszewski.