©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Local rugby player selected for World Cup team

Kate Pope, a Chestnut Hill native, has been selected for the squad of 26 players slated to represent the United States at this year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, scheduled Aug. 31 through Sept. 17 in Edmonton, Alberta. Pope, whose position is lock, plays for the Philadelphia Women’s Rugby Football Club (PWRFC).

Pope, 25, attended The Miquon School and graduated from Germantown Friends School. For her junior project at GFS, she interned at the Local. She went on to graduate from Smith College, where she played rugby. Pope coaches the women’s rugby team at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is a third-year law student.

The six-year rugby veteran credits older sister Alice with getting her into the game. “My sister played (and kicked butt) at Dartmouth, so I decided to give it a try,” Pope is quoted as saying on the USA National Team web site in her biographical sketch (www.womeneagles.com/pope.html).

Women who aim for the USA National Team may start at the high school, college or club level.

Kathy Flores, the head coach of the National Team, the Women Eagles, said when the squad was selected last month, “We tried to pick a team with a good combination of experience and youth, players that are veterans in the international game and those that will be exposed to it for the first time.” Eight squad members played in the 2002’s World Cup, in The Netherlands, when the Eagles placed seventh.

The sixth-seeded Eagles are set to open against England on Aug. 31 and meet Ireland on Sept. 4 and Australia, Sept. 8. After the three match days, semi-finals will follow.

The United States won the first World Cup, in 1991, beating England, 19-6. The Women Eagles were runners-up the next two years, in 1994 and 1998.

“Arabella and I are proud of our baby’s achievement,” said Pope’s father, James, “and are looking forward to our trip to watch the Lady Eagles crush the opposition (even England and Wales, where we, respectively, were born).”

For more information on the Women Eagles, visit the web site www.womeneagles.com.

— Lea Sitton Stanley