Robbinsdale Armstrong Girls Rugby Wins State Title

This was anything but a rebuilding year.

Coming off a state championship last season, the Robbinsdale Armstrong U19 girls rugby team graduated 13 seniors. But even with a new cast, the Falcons capped off a repeat championship Sunday by defeating Orono 5-0 for the Division I title at The Blake School in Hopkins.

Not only was this team filled with new starters, half the club is currently a junior or younger.

“I have the best girls on the planet,” coach Jimmy Hanson said. “They will do whatever I ask of them. They work hard always, and they are competitors.”

The Falcons showed it Sunday.

Armstrong and Orono shared a scoreless battle for 55 minutes, and despite Hanson feeling the Falcons controlled tempo for much of the match, they couldn’t get on the scoreboard.

That changed with five minutes remaining when senior Sarah Lent scored to give the Falcons a 5-0 lead.

Armstrong (9-0-1) held on the rest of the way to pick up the title.

“I feel like we were pretty in control of the game the whole time,” Hanson said. “We played on their half the whole time, and we got close to scoring. We just got close and got turned away a couple times.”

The Falcons defeated Orono 12-10 on April 13 on a last-minute score, so Hanson said he knew the Nightmares (7-3-0) would be a formidable opponent for the title.

Hanson said he looks forward to facing Orono.

“They always play us tough,” he said. We beat them earlier in the year on a last minute score, 12-10. We've got a little bit of a rivalry between the two."