POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (May 24,2010) -- Following tryouts over the past two months, Vassar College womens' sophomore Krissa Wiechmann has been selected to play on the Northeast Rugby Union (NRU) Women's Under 23 select side for the 2010 Inter-Territorial Championships (ITT) to be held in Santa Barbara, CA.

Wiechmann, a sophomore lock who scored two tries this season, will be joined by '09 graduate Alana Melton who now plays rugby in Boston for the Beantown Women's team.

"There was a tremendous response from the coaches and players in the Northeast and in addition to tryouts at various locations many players were seen at the NRU Cup tournament hosted by UMass., Amherst at the end of April," said Vassar head coach Tony Brown, who will also coach the NRU team. "I want to thank all the players and coaches who made the effort to try out or assist in that process because in effect they have all helped to build this squad."

On Saturday the team had its first game together against the Village Lions on Randall's Island in New York and ran out winners by a score of 27-5. The team scored five tries on a hot and sunny day playing on the artificial turf fields secured by the Metropolitan New York Rugby Union.

The performance was very encouraging given that these players have not worked as a team previously but it was clear to any observer there is a lot of room for improvement. They will next play on Saturday June 5 versus Beantown in Boston before they travel to California and the ITT Championship that runs from June 10-13, 2010.

ITTs
First up at the ITTs for the Northeast is a game against the West on Friday June 11, 2010 at 2:00 pm. The team will play again on Sunday June 13 at 11:00 am and both games will be at the University of Santa Barbara.

The squad of 25 players includes members of 13 different college programs and 1 women's senior club.

A complete list of the NRU U.23 Squad 2010:

Backs
Amanda Cleary - UMass., Amherst
Rachel Sachs - Syracuse
Evan Hoese - Radcliffe
Jill Lipari - Hofstra
Nina Eskandari - Northeastern
Katie Matthews - Bowdoin
Alyssa Baccarella - MIT
Jessica Peterson - Marist
Ali Pappas - Wellesley
Caroline Hunting - MIT
Emily Erdman - MIT

Forwards
Amber Coutermash - Southern Vermont
Alana Melton - Beantown
Teresa Skelly - UMass., Amherst
Mary Sung - Beantown
Amy Cheeseman - UMass., Amherst
Erika Granger - MIT
Elsbeth Paige-Jeffers - Bowdoin
Liz Kelly - Rutgers
Rachelle Calixte - Radcliffe
Meaghan Reddy - Beantown
Maddie Vara - Wellesley
Krissa Wiechmann - Vassar
Naomi Oberman-Breindel - Brown
Kelsey Whitney - UMass., Amherst

Coaching staff: Tony Brown, Bryan Hamlin, Kate Orlin, & Josh Chason.