11/22-23/25 - No Armor, Just Grit - Scrum by the Sea 2025
This past weekend, the UCSD Women’s Rugby team hosted the annual, highly anticipated, Scrum by the Sea tournament! However, this year was unlike any other. Torrential storms lashed San Diego for weeks leading up to the tournament, drowning Warren Field, the traditional match grounds. This left the team scrambling, unsure of what to do. It was declared that, for the first time in history, the Scrum by the Sea would be held on Muir Field. The incredible tournament director, Chingi Lin, sprung into action, doing everything in her power to make sure that the transfer between fields would be seamless and every teams’ tournament experience would be spectacular.
On the cold, cloudy Saturday morning, ruggers hailing from across California and Arizona poured into Muir Field, eagerly anticipating the day’s matches. In their first game of the day, our Tritons faced the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. The UCSD team asserted their offensive skills early with an attempted try by prop Andrea Mota. Regrettably, it was deemed a held-up try and not counted. The Tritons fought valiantly the rest of the match, but the Gauchos were a worthy adversary and ended with taking the 7-0 win. In UCSD’s second match, they faced Arizona State. The match was a challenging battle and ASU took the lead 21-0.
Following yesterday’s matches, the UC San Diego women’s rugby team showed up to their 10:30 AM kick-off energized and ready to play. On the other side of the field stood UCLA, ready to receive the ball. A strong kick from UCSD started off the game as players rushed forwards. Amidst powerful tackles, UCSD managed to seize the ball from UCLA. Chantal Earl rushed ahead and scored the team’s first try followed by a successful conversion kick by Nikole Kron, starting the Tritons off strong at 7-0. The two teams entered the first scrum of the day after UCLA’s ball didn’t go 10. The UCSD forwards powered through the scrum, landing the ball in their hands. Through excellent support and good hands, Lina Luedi scored the second try of the game. With another amazing conversion kick from Nikole Kron, UCSD now stood at 14-0.
Entering the second half, the Tritons were once again receiving. The ball bounced between the two teams until a decisive scrum, turning the ball over to UCSD. After a tackle and a pass, the ball gets passed to Sara Tsai who bulldozes past several defenders from the halfway line all the way into the try zone. The incredible try and another conversion kick from Nikole keeps the Tritons in the lead at 21-0. Towards the end of the game, UCLA turns the tides and scores a try, putting the match at 21-5. Nevertheless, the Tritons did not let their spirits falter for a second and poured their energy into the remainder of the game, preventing UCLA from scoring any more tries, resulting in the final scoreboard being a Triton victory of 21-5.
As the tournament drew to a close, the UCSD Women’s Rugby team knew that though tournament victory may have eluded them this year, both vets and rookies alike learned invaluable lessons and were more prepared than ever to tackle the upcoming season.
