Just eight weeks ago, the UMass Dartmouth Women’s Rugby team started off its fall season going back to basics. Now, they’re making school history.

This season, the women’s rugby team has gone undefeated, won the Colonial Coast Rugby Championships and is now preparing to go to the National Small College Rugby Organization Women’s Regionals at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire.

The key for making this far was to break things down to their simplest form, said Head Coach Victoria Thomas.

“The goal of this season was to win more games than they won last year,” Thomas said. “Personally, my goal was to teach them how to play, get them going, and see where it progressed to. We have an amazing group of athletes on this team that we [were] fortunate to have because they all picked it up really quickly.”

Team advisor Captain Tim Sheehan was blown away by the strides this team has made. According to Sheehan, they are currently ranked at eighth overall for Division III club rugby.

“They’re really making history,” Sheehan said.

Endicott College was one of their biggest obstacles. Defeating Endicott placed UMass first in the conference but even as the Corsairs sailed to victory through each game, Thomas urged them to keep looking forward and warned them against getting cocky.

“When they beat Endicott, you could tell their entire demeanor changed...” Thomas said. “You could see it on their faces. They’ve just never looked back.”

UMass is seeded first of the four teams that will be participating the northeastern bracket of regionals. In order to move onto the National Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, they must win both of their games. This game is the equivalent of the Sweet 16 in March Madness.

Though the team receives a budget from the university, the team has been funding their travels through bake sales, raffles and fundraisers. The team got serious about cushioning their funds as their wins started racking up.

“It would just happen that they win regionals and can’t go to nationals because they don’t have enough money,” Sheehan said.

To date, the team has raised $2,616.14.

The women’s rugby team was founded in 2005 and remained a self-run club sport until Thomas, who graduated from UMass in 2014, returned last year to pick up the mantle as the team’s first ever head coach.

UMass’ women’s rugby team has a lot to be proud of so the members are constantly recruiting friends and classmates to join.

“Somehow, half of our sorority has ended up on the rugby team,” sophomore Mackenzie Benjamin said.

Team unity is an important part of their success and so they spend any and all free time together for pasta dinners and team outings, Senior Cali Manzello said.

The men’s team have also been “ridiculously supportive” of the women’s team, Thomas said. The men and women take care to show up and cheer for each other even at away games. Some of the men will be following the women’s team for their games at regionals.

“The club itself is very, very close, they’re like a big family,” Thomas said.

“That’s all you hear on the sidelines, UMass Dartmouth supporting each other,” Manzello added.

Rugby is a sport that has been gaining popularity in the United States, though it’s still fairly obscure. Some ruggers are drawn to the sport because it fills a gap where high school sports might have been.

“I [was] really missing being a part of a team and so over the summer I was like, ‘Wow, there’s a rugby team, that sounds really cool,’” Sophomore Mollie Madigan said.

Most unanimously admit that they joined because it seemed “badass.”

Manzello was her rookie season’s only new recruit but she’s seen a lot more growth in the team in recent seasons. Nowadays, every position has subs and backups which allows for more comfortably shifting players around to last an entire 80 minute game.

“[Now] we have an official coach. When I joined the team, Vicky was my captain,” Manzello said.

“I think, as a rookie, it’s awesome. [My] first season and we’re in regionals,” Madigan said.

“They’ve done something this club has not done before. They made it to regionals. They’ve won the conference championship. If nothing else, they’ve made their mark,” Thomas said.