The Valkyries scored a lot. We didn't. But that should happen when a college team plays the #3 Women's Club Team in the Nation.

You need to have learning experiences. And some times you have to fight outside you weight class to become better. That's definitely something we accomplished this weekend.

I can honestly say that we executed our game plan better against the Valkyries than we have against any team we have seen so far this fall. However, the Valkyries have such depth of skill that they were easily able to pick out any flaw in our execution.

The match presented a great opportunity for all the UW-Milwaukee players to see and work against a rugby team that executes brilliantly. The pace and decision making of the Valkyries definitely sets standards, and it gives the UW-Milwaukee girls something to which they can aspire.

Playing a match that has that amount of pressure forced UW-Milwaukee to really execute their rugby know-how. For the first time this year, we saw the Lady Panthers execute a flat-line organized defense that was perfectly straight across the field. And the Panthers learned that if you don't set a pillar or slide to cover the open side, a smart team will read it instantly and execute against it without fail.

Playing against the bigger players with more depth of skill forced the Panthers to execute in the tackle more effectively as well. We saw far fewer catch tackles and far more level two and three tackles. We learned that it feels a lot better to hit than to be hit. And we learned that if nothing else, communication is vital to playing winning rugby.

The interesting thing about the whole experience was just how lost the level discrepancy between the two teams was on the Lady Panther players. The Minnesota Valkyries aren't just some good women's team from Minnesota. UW-Milwaukee is a Division II unranked Collegiate Team from Wisconsin. The Minnesota Valkyries are a Division I Women's Club Side that has about 1/3 to 1/2 of the US Eagle Women's National Team on their Roster. Our little Lady Panthers played against at least three women this weekend that have not only played international matches for the Women's National Team, but have actually played in the Women's Rugby World Cup!

Talk about soaring with the Eagles!

But possibly one of the most ingratiating moments of the weekend came when the Minnesota Valkyries Team came over to address the Lady Panthers after the match. The Valkyries had brought some gifts for our players and had kind words for everyone. The Valkyries had collectively consulted and agreed that Lindsey Fickau played an outstanding match. Valkyrie Captain Hannah Stolba presented Lindsey with the "Man of the Match" award as the Valkyries and Lady Panthers applauded. The Valkyries had brought two gift baskets and distributed various gifts to the members of UW-Milwaukee Women's Rugby.

We'd like to thank the Minnesota Valkyries for allowing us this opportunity to play them and develop our skill as a program! We look forward to working with them in the future!