As Kent State women’s rugby club team travels to Maryland this weekend for its season finale, sophomore Colleen Carroll can’t wait for another reason.

“I’m excited to face a team from my home state and see familiar faces,” Carroll said. “This gives my friends and family a chance to finally see me play with Kent and I couldn’t be more ready to show them how good we are.”

After the Flashes (4-2) loss last weekend to the number one team in Division II, Davenport University, the team practiced heavily on basics to get back on track.

“This week (has been) more strategy and less contact,” said head coach Jeff Horton. “We have had a very physically demanding schedule thus far and our players can benefit from the rest.”

Don’t let the laid-back practice style this week fool you though, as Horton said the team needs to get more physical in its play based on the results of the Davenport game, a 47-0 loss.

“Rather than looking to make an offloading pass, we will be looking to drive through the defense with our ball carriers,” Horton said. “There is no question, our team plays with a lot of finesse. We need to be able to control the tempo of the match against any opponent.”

Besides improving upon aggressiveness, Carroll said the defense needs to be better and focus on their fundamentals.

“(We need to improve) basic fundamentals like passing and catching to make sure we limit the amount of errors in the upcoming game,” Carroll said.

Kyle Samec is a sports reporter for The Kent Stater. Contact him at [email protected].