Lake Region Grad Wins National Rugby Championship

For longtime readers of The Newport Daily’s sports pages, the name Sylvia brownlow should be familiar.

The 2024 graduate of Lake Region was the girls soccer goalie for numerous years, providing a steadying presence on the pitch.

After leaving LR,she started her studies at northeastern University in boston,where she is majoring in Mechanical Engineering and minoring in Aerospace.

Upon arrival,she decided to try a new sport: rugby.

In her second year with the program, nicknamed “The Mad Dogs”, Brownlow and the rest of the Huskies (Northeastern’s official mascot) competed in Houston, TX, on December 7th for the Division I-AA National Women’s “15s” Rugby Championship against the Colorado Buffaloes.

The 4th-ranked Huskies defeated top-seeded Notre Dame and second-seeded Virginia en route to the title game. When the final horn sounded,Northeastern won 44-10.

We caught up with the recently-crowned national champion to discuss the big win, getting involved with rugby, and more.

“I tried rugby for the first time last year during my freshman fall,” said Brownlow, describing how she got involved with the sport. “I remembered my mother telling me about the short time she played and how much she liked it. So,while the team was recruiting for the fall,I decided to learn.”

As the past season progressed, Brownlow became acquainted with the 8-man position, but she says there is a lot of shifting