Elsah, ILL. -- The Principia College Thunder Chickens begin their eight game conference schedule this weekend with two games. On Saturday, they take on Missouri University of Science and Technology (S&T) at home, and on Monday night they travel to Washington University in Saint Louis. This is the first season in several decades that the team has had conference games and thus been aiming towards a championship.
University of Missouri-Columbia (Mizzou) and Saint Louis University (SLU) are also in our conference. SLU not only won last year's collegiate championship of the Missouri Rugby Union, but they also went on to the national division II collegiate tournament.
The 16 returning players are joined by eleven newcomers. The newcomers have a varied athletic background which include football players, wrestlers, baseball players, and track and cross country runners. Several of these new players have had family members play for the team. Forwards Tim Crump and Ben Summerlin both have brothers who were also forwards for the Thunder Chickens. Hooker Ben Schaberg's cousin was an outstanding back who graduated last year. Trevor Marunde joins his brother in the back line, and Jake Milner becomes the second generation to play, as his father was one of the founding members of the team. In last week's scrimmage victory against the Springfield Celts, two of Principia's five tries were scored by freshman— Corey Fisher made a pick in the first half, and Trevor Marunde gave good backline support on a 2 on 1, and recived a pass which he put down in the in-goal.
Last season the Thunder Chickens went 6-0 in their collegiate matches, and were 3-5 against men's club teams. In the collegiate matches they earned two shutouts and never gave up more than ten points in a game.
Head Coach Nicholas Johnson will be joined by two assistant coaches. Alumnus Forrest Wilder brings over a decade of experience to the team. Besides playing rugby for Principia, Forrest has also played for teams in Alaska and Virginia. Tavia Patterson has been involved with rugby her entire life. Her father, an alumnus, is currently the University of Connecticut's head coach, and formerly led Middlebury College to the 2007 division II championship.
