Forty of the nation’s top collegiate women’s rugby players descend on the University of Wisconsin Monday for a weeklong high performance camp. The capstone is an intrasquad All-American game Saturday at Benedictine University Stadium – a curtainraiser for the Chicago Tempest versus New York Exiles Women’s Elite Rugby match. 

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Players representing 29 schools and every division in college rugby will be led by a 12-person staff, and will live, eat and breathe rugby all week, simulating a national team assembly. During a week of skill-specific training, gym sessions, practice and video work, head coaches Karameli Fa’ae’e and Magali Harvey will select their squads for Saturday’s match. 

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Harvey, a Canadian international in both 7s and XVs and 2014 World Rugby Player of the Year, made her All-American coaching debut last month at Algarve 7s, earning a third-place finish. Fa’ae’e, an American international in XVs and former USA Captain, is the newly named head coach of Princeton, joining the Tigers from Ivy rival Brown, where she served as an assistant.

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Iowa’s Gillian McRae and Notre Dame’s Mia Blocher are joining the camp fresh off the trip to Algarve. McRae will be pitching up, while the injured Blocher is helping with social media off the field. 

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They’re joined by fellow Big Ten standout Anna Rimatzki from Michigan, whose head coach, Jamie Frech, returns as the Director of Rugby. Frech led the staff in Portugal, where Brown’s Olivia Baptiste was on the field as a player. For this assembly, Baptiste has graduated to the coaching staff, taking a role as a developmental coach. 

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Northeastern, national champion in both XVs and 7s, boasts the largest representation in camp with four players – Kourtney Bichotte-Dunner, Mira Mahmoud, Sierra Palecek and Vicky Hajjar. Division II powerhouse Wisconsin Eau Claire has three players in Madison Cornell, Maggie Kane and Olivia George. 

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Colorado School of Mines, Colorado Mesa, Penn State, Southern Nazarene and New Hampshire all have two selections each. 

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Penn State’s Cara McManus, St. Bonaventure’s Natalie Lamar, Colorado’s Lucia Hoffman, East Stroudsburg’s Tara Bogansky, and Eau Claire’s George were all Player of the Year finalists in their respective divisions, and they could all be teammates or foes next week. 

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Saturday’s All-American game is set for 2 p.m. CT, and it will be streamed live on National Collegiate Rugby’s YouTube.  

High Performance Camp Roster

Abigail Wegener - Aquinas

Aliya Lynn - Colorado School of Mines 

Allison Radcliffe - Marist

Anna Rimatzki - Michigan

Annekkia Ritter-Truxal - AIC

Campbell Kerr - NC State

Cara McManus - Penn State 

Chloe Coop - Colorado Mesa 

Corinne Dragwa - Towson

Danica Luzak - Penn State

Elizabeth Breiby - New Hampshire 

Emma McNab - Niagara

Gillian McRae - Iowa

Grace Anderson - Bowling Green

Holly Brazigian - Boise State

Ireland Jeffery - Wheeling

Jasmine Mendez - Coast Guard

Jordan Shannon - North Dakota

Kate Osborn - Colorado School of Mines

Kaylee Burns - Colorado Mesa

Keyonna Wilson-Rhodie - North Carolina State

Kourtney Bichotte-Dunner - Northeastern 

Lesieli Vaeno-Tonga - Southern Nazarene 

Lily Morrison - Arizona State

Lucia Hoffman Farmer - Colorado

Madison Cornell - Wisconsin Eau Claire 

Maggie Kane - Wisconsin Eau Claire

Mia Blocher - Notre Dame

Mira Mahmoud - Northeastern

Natalie Lamar - St. Bonaventure

Olivia George - Wisconsin Eau Claire

Palu Sau - Southern Nazarene

Sarah White - New Hampshire

Sierra Kraemer - Coastal Carolina

Sierra Gallup - Colorado State

Sierra Palecek - Northeastern

Sunshine Aofia - Texas

Tara Bogansky - East Stroudsburg 

Vicky Hajjar - Northeastern

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High Performance Staff

Director of Women’s Rugby - Alycia Washington - NCR

Director of Rugby -  Jamie Frech - Michigan

Head Coach - Karameli Fa’ae’e - Princeton

Head Coach - Magali Harvey - Ex-Canadian International

Assistant Coach - Dani Harris Keil - Aquinas

Assistant Coach - Brad Dufek - NCR

Development Coach - Matja Saarenheimo-VanderHorst - Yale

Development Coach - Olivia Baptise - Brown

Strength & Conditioning - Jared Keith - Yale

Head AT - Kristin Oliphant - California Legion

Manager -  Jake Koenigs - Wisconsin

Assistant Manager - Liv Stager - Wisconsin

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