This is one long strand, so bear with me…
Boston Banshees (orange jerseys) playing NY Exiles Saturday, May 2nd.
It was a marathon weekend of women’s sports in the Boston area, between the PWHL Fleet hockey playoffs and the kick-off of the Women’s Elite Rugby season. And for the first time ever, a horse with a woman trainer won the Kentucky Derby, congrats to Golden Tempo and Cherie DeVaux!
But
first, Saturday morning began with a writing salon at the Hull Public Library.
So much talent gathered in that room, as local writers shared from their published
books and works in progress. Each one made me want to read the next chapter.
Everyone watches women’s sports. Supporting each other’s sports lifts everyone up.
A rising tide lifts all ships.
 |
| Snow Row, 45th annual boat race, held in Hull, MA, back in March |
It’s
Rugby Season!
Finally, at last, after watching so many other sports, I find my home, my place, at the rugby game on Saturday. Sitting with some other Beantown alumni in the stands, we chat among ourselves, “Don’t you feel like you could still play again?”
There’s a vocal crowd from Northeastern University behind us. They have a lot to cheer about, just coming off their 7s Championship in April, their third year in a row taking the crown in the National Collegiate Rugby Division I-AA. And this follows their capturing the 2025 XVs Championship in December. And to top that off, one of their players, Molly McAlevy, the NCR Final MVP, is also taking the field for the for the first time, just named to the Banshees squad in January.
Elsewhere in the stands, a few people cheer, “Let’s go Boston!” This is jarring, and rankles because there is already, and still is a Boston Women’s Rugby Club, that still exists, and was historically a cross-town rival to Beantown RFC. And the Banshees include a pretty good-sized contingent of players who came from Beantown, somewhere on the order of 15 to 20. It would be like cheering, “Let’s go Yankees!” at a Red Sox game, by the logic that New Englanders are also northerners, above the Mason-Dixon line, and therefore Yankees.
Might I suggest next time folks cheer: “Let’s go Banshees!”
The first weekend of the Women’s Elite Rugby (WER) season ended with three decisive victories:
Boston Banshees over the NY Exiles 38 - 19
Twin
City Gemini over Chicago Tempest 78 - 22
Bay
City Breakers over Denver Onyx 36 - 19
Seeing these teams, I’m reminded of the original clubs that played decades ago: Twin City Amazons, Minneapolis Valkyries, Chicago, Bay Area She-Hawks (aka BASH), and Berkeley (with their Grateful Dead-like dancing bears logo), and of course Beantown. And now it’s no surprise that many of these same cities are home to the first professional women’s rugby teams.
The prior Women’s Premier League (WPL) operated between 2009 and 2024, with a hiatus between 2020 and 2022 due to the pandemic. While it was the highest level of play within the US, outside of the Olympics, it was still amateur, player-run, and players had to pay their own way. The start of the WER marks the advent of players getting paid a monthly stipend to allow them to focus on their sport, which is literally a game-changer.
The Banshees came on the field with high energy, and a completely different look from their last meeting with the New York Exiles, when they suffered a painful 20 - 24 loss to them last April. It feels like the team has gelled over the off-season, with 20 returning players, and showing textbook execution of forward loose play, going to ground, efficient delivery out the back of rucks, and clockwork back play, with really nice offloads to the next rugger before being taken down. And there was scoring. Lots of scoring.
Here are a few pics from the game. Boston Banshees are in orange jerseys, NY Exiles in teal.
Upcoming: Next home game is May 16th vs. Denver Onyx.
See
end of post for the sports calendar.
Check the WER home page for the latest on schedules, times, etc.
https://www.womenseliterugby.us/schedule-boston-banshees
It’s Stick Season!
Yes, I originally thought that Noah Kahan’s song was about HOCKEY, and later learned that it was just about, literally, sticks. Well, whatever. I still say it could be about hockey.
The Walter Cup playoffs are in full swing, with both semi-final series tied at 1 game each.
The Boston Fleet won Game 1 of the Walter Cup Playoffs (PWHL) over Ottawa Charge on April 30th, with a score of 2 - 1, with goals shot by Alina Müller & Jamie Lee Rattray, but then dropped Game 2 on May 2nd, with a score of 1 - 3.
The Minnesota Frost overcame Montreal Victoire 5 to 4 in OT in Game 1 on May 2nd, but then Victoire came back to take Game 2 with a single goal scored by Captain Marie-Philip Poulin in a late-night triple-OT nail-biter May 5th.
And yet, I think, rugby is still so much more civilized. A game designed for hooligans, played by gentlepersons, as they say. In hockey, there’s an awful lot of unnecessary hitting. Practically fisticuffs, but they have gloves on. Roque has a black eye, Curl gets suspended a game.
See the sports calendar below. Next games are May 7th and May 8th.
Mother’s Day
As we’re also approaching Mother’s Day, it occurs to me, where have all these amazing women been in decades past? They were there, in our midst, the whole time. If you look back decades, or generations, they were there. Our mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, aunts, sisters, great aunts. Just picture them in a jersey – rugby, hockey, basketball, soccer, bobsled, skiing, you name it. They could have done what these modern warriors are doing, if they had the chance. They simply lacked access. Opportunity.
Signed
in 1972, it legislated equal access to athletic opportunities in schools. It
has taken over 50 years for cultural expectations to evolve and organizational
change to happen, to build an environment where women’s sports can flourish. At
last!
Sports Calendar:
RUGBY:
May
9-10 - NERFU tournament in Newport, RI.
May 10, 2026 – Boston Banshees play away at Chicago Tempest, on the Illinois Benedictine University campus in Lisle, IL. Kick-off time is 6:00 PM EDT.
All 2026 WER games will be available to stream on the Women’s Sports Network, which is in the LIVE TV sports section of the various streaming services: Prime Video, fubo, tubi, Roku, PLUTO, plex, Samsung TV Plus, LG Channels, Watch Free Vizio, MyFree DirectTV, TABLO. See the WER website for details on how to watch.
May 16, 2026 – Next Boston Banshees HOME GAME vs. Denver Onyx, at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium in Quincy, MA. Kick-off is at 5:00 PM EDT.
This
should be a competitive match, as the Banshees will be going up against the current
reigning champion. Denver Onyx took the Legacy Cup last spring, outscoring the
NY Exiles 53 to 13 in the final last June.
May 30, 2026 – Boston Banshees play away at Twin City Gemini. 6:00 PM EDT.
May 31 - Rosie's Ruck 7s in Canton, MA.
June 7, 2026 – Boston Banshees HOME GAME vs. Bay City Breakers. Kick-off is at 6:00 PM EDT.
June 11 - MA High School rugby state championship in Quincy, MA.
June 13, 2026 – Boston Banshees play away at Denver Onyx. 7:00 PM EDT.
June 21, 2026 – Boston Banshees play away at Bay City Breakers. 8:00 PM EDT.
July 11, 2026 – Boston Banshees HOME GAME vs. Twin City Gemini. Kick-off is at 3:00 PM EDT.
July 18, 2026 – Boston Banshees HOME GAME vs. Chicago Tempest. Kick-off is at 5:00 PM EDT.
July 25, 2026 – Boston Banshees play away at NY Exiles. 5:00 PM EDT.
HOCKEY:
Games are being streamed on PWHL YouTube: https://www.thepwhl.com/en/
May
7 – Montreal vs. Minnesota, Game 3, 7:00 PM EDT.
May 8 - Boston Fleet vs. Ottawa Charge, Game 3, 7:00 PM EDT.
May
8 – Montreal vs. Minnesota, Game 4, 8:30 PM EDT.
May 10 - Boston Fleet vs. Ottawa Charge, Game 4, 3:00 PM EDT.
May 11 – Montreal vs. Minnesota, Game 5, 7:00 PM EDT.
May 12 - Boston Fleet vs. Ottawa Charge, Game 5, 7:00 PM EDT.
BOSTON LEGACY FC (SOCCER):
May 9 - At NY Gotham FC.
May 12 – Orlando Pride, 7:00 PM EDT, at
Gillette.
May 15 – At Bay FC.
May 22 – Seattle Reign FC, at Centreville Bank
Stadium. This is a super-nice stadium, and located
just outside Providence, RI.
May 30 – At KC Current.
Books:
If anyone wants copies of my books, they’re both on Amazon, but for the rugby book, just reach out in a comment, and I’ll send you a copy. It will be simpler.
The
Happy Clam can be ordered directly through the printer/distributor
(IngramSparks), cutting out all the middle-people:
https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=H5CEjLsCLxp0QjPdNOPvntbgUAZdvqWRZoms9HXVnCO
SubStack
– Also, thanks and welcome to all the new followers on SubStack! A simple and
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https://substack.com/@rosemaryschmidt
References:
© 2026 Rosemary A. Schmidt
Rose Schmidt is the author of The Happy Clam (© 2020), and Go Forward, Support! The Rugby of Life
(© 2004), both published by Gainline Press. The views expressed herein are
solely those of the author, and do not represent the views of any other agency
or organization. Use of individual quotes with proper citation and attribution,
within the limits of fair use, is permitted. To request permission to re-use or
reprint any of the content on the site, please contact me.
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