In late 2022, Alfred University announced its plan to add a women’s rugby team to its list of varsity sports for the 2023-24 season. Women’s rugby is the 23rd athletic program in Alfred University’s athletic department. When this plan was announced, it was still unclear who would run the program and what it would look like. A national search occurred to find the women’s rugby head coach. A little less than six months later, Nicole Bernsen was named Director of Rugby and Women’s Rugby Head Coach for the Saxons. Dr. Bernsen was the Associate Director for Athletics Academics Service at the University of Alaska Fairbanks prior to coming to Alfred. Bernsen also has a long history in different positions involved with rugby. In 2020, she served as the rugby select side assistant coach at the Pacific Northwest Rugby Football Union in Seattle, Washington. Under this position, Bernsen coached, coordinated training camps, managed player data, and fostered events that allowed players to be evaluated by national team coaches. Prior to her time with the Pacific Northwest Rugby Football Union, Bernsen was the head rugby coach for the University of Maine. She led UMaine from 2017-2020 and in each year her team qualified for postseason play. One of the most successful runs was in 2017 when her team won the New England Continental Bowl. Bernsten also spent a year as the rugby assistant coach at the University of New Mexico. Aside from coaching, Dr. Bernsen also played rugby for various teams including; Budd Bay Bandits (Olympia, WA), Portland Pigs (Portland, OR), and UC-Santa Barbara.
Rugby has been growing in Western New York, so the Saxons will begin competing with other institutions in the region. The Alfred University women’s rugby team consists of 11 players. As student-athletes wait for the Saxon Hill Sports Complex to be completed, the Saxons practice outside on the turf at Yunevich Stadium and a field at Jericho Hill. Saxon Hill, a project expected to cost $30 million to construct, will be the homefield for the Alfred Women’s Rugby team.
Another announcement was made last month by the Alfred athletics department that the men’s rugby club team would be moved as a varsity sport. The men’s team will begin intercollegiate formal competition after completing the Saxon Hill Sports Complex. There is currently a national search for an intercollegiate men’s head coach and women’s assistant coach. As of now, Coach Bernsen has been helping the men’s rugby team. Alfred University continues to develop the athletic department to enhance the experience student-athletes are offered during their college career.