New York, NY- It’s official: The WPL season is now half way over with a far from predictable second half in store. After having a heavy amount of travel in the beginning the season, NYRC has spent the past two weeks earning a few more “W’s” closer to home. In two weeks, the WPL side produced a shutout against the D.C. Furies in New Jersey (65-0), while the D1 side defeated Morris WRFC (57-6) and New Haven WRFC (73-10) respectively.

In the October 1st match against the DC Furies, the NYRC WPL squad focused on playing to high standards that both NYRC squads continue to hold themselves to as the season progresses. Working with different players and combinations, NYRC used the match to continue testing the depth of this year’s squad. Coach Ryszard Chadwick noted that the second half attack, in particular, was a pleasure to watch. “It was great to see forwards and backs link, offloads being pulled off, breakaways and impressive support lines and ball movement. The attack was fluid and exciting to watch.” Standout performances included the defensive effort by Shamira Robles, golden-boot kicks from vice captain Shelby Lin, and first ever WPL tries by Jackie Johnson and Kerry Conlin. The result of this match, as well as the D1 match that followed, served as a testament to the big offensive numbers NYRC can produce no matter who is wearing a jersey.

D1 matches against Morris WRFC and New Haven WRFC proved that there is still a highly competitive and skilled list of players looking to earn one of the WPL jerseys. Captain Sarah Minahan recalled the match against Morris: "It took us a few minutes to get going but once we fell into our shape and patterns, the flow on attack was excellent. There were also some great individual defense efforts!" Of note were big hits from Amber Chandu, key turnovers in defense from Justina DeBruzzi, big defensive hits along the touch line from Meg Ford, and beautiful execution from full back Yoshi Shapiro, or as her teammates now call her, “The Magician.” Coach James English noted that the pace that the D1 side was able to sustain against a hard working New Haven side was impressive. “A solid performance demonstrating the ongoing improvement across the whole squad.” said English. “I’m excited to see where we can take this group.”

Moving forward, NYRC begins the second half of its season as it began its first: travel to Boston! This Sunday, October 15th, the WPL squad will face Beantown for a second time. Vice captain Shelby Lin is excited to see the club continue to develop over the next 4 weeks. “We’ve accomplished a lot and still have plenty of room to develop!” Lin said. “We’re looking forward to playing Beantown this weekend and will use the match to continue to work on our discipline, both on offense and defense.” Coach English agrees that the squad knows that it has a lot left to do. “As we shift into the third block of our season, the focus will shift also. I have been happy with our development, we are in a good place but know we have a lot to do. We now look at how, as players and coaches, we can keep pushing the group forward and challenging each other to improve.”

The defeat of the D.C. Furies bring the WPL squad to a 4-0-0 record, giving them the lead in the WPL Eastern Conference. Tune into @newyorkrugby twitter to follow Sunday’s action in Boston live.