Top Cat Chase Cain, senior rugby player

September 23, 2009

The photo of Lois’ granddaughter, Chase Cain, was taken from the Eastern Illinois University student newspaper, September 10th edition. The following article by Neil Schneider, staff reporter is quoted verbatim as follows:

The Eastern rugby team defeated Ball State 90 - 0 on Sept. 5.

The score indicated the Eastern offense was putting up strong numbers, but it was also an impressive day for senior Chase Cain and the rest of the team’s defense.

Cain finished the game against Ball State with a career-high 19 solo tackles, which ranks her third on the all-time Eastern single-game tackling mark for rugby.

Cain also ranks second, behind teammate Stephanie Militello, for all-time tackling leader for the program.

Head coach Frank Graziano believes Cain’s fitness is a strong reason why she is able to tackle so effectively.

Half of the battle of being a good tackler is the ability to get around the field and get to the ball as soon as possible,” Graziano said. “There are prbably girls on the team that have a better technique of tackling than Chase, but they do not have the fitness or the desire to tackle as she does. Half of (Cain’s) tackling is having the desire to go in and make the tackle.”

Cain’s teammate, junior flanker Tiffany Kennedy, said Cain’s endurance and knowledge of the game helped her develop into a strong contributor for the team.

“Her defense is probably untouchable when it comes to this team,” Kennedy said. “Her tackling and experience of defending certain situations has really helped her develop her game.”

Despite the high praise by teammates and coaches alike, Cain actually didn’t come to Eastern to play rugby. She came to swim. It wasn’t until she realized she could do both at the same time that she finallhy took up an interest in rugby.

“It wasn’t until I spoke with (senior center) Ashley Jenkins that I realized that I could play both sports.” Cain said.
“Since rugby is more of a team sport, I kind of decided to pursue it further as opposed to going forward with swimming.”

Cain, a flanker, credited the Eastern coaching staff for her quick introduction and development in the game of rugby.

“(Graziano) really knows the game of rugby and that has allowed the team to advance and develop much quicker,” Cain said. “Coach teaches methods that aren’t used by many other teams, which puts us ahead of a lot of other teams. Most teams don’t even know, or have ever seen, the passing techniques that we have developed and applied to our game.”

Even though the rugby team opened the season with a win, Cain said she would like to see the momentum continue. The rugby team currently has a winning streak of 17 games.

“We want to go undefeated again and we want to continue with our streak of consecutive wins,” Cain said. “We would also like to put up as many shut outs as possible this season.”

Chase Cain BIO: From Cherry Valley, High School: Rockford Jefferson Major: Psychology and Family Consumer Services 2008: Co-Captain, Co-Outstanding Defense Award, Then-career best 15 tackles vs. Kansas, Three double-digit tackle games.