The coach is yelling typical motivational support, like "nice block" and "good stuff" and "oh, good little move."

On the field are players with their hair in ponytails and pigtails, shoving and tackling one another as they prove -- to themselves as much as anyone -- that women's sports are no longer defined by field hockey and softball.

Rugby isn't a new thing. Women have been playing it for decades.

But at the male-dominated Naval Academy -- where tension between the genders is part of daily life -- the rise of women playing this formerly all-male sport has opened a door.

For the women, who make up less than 20 percent of the student body, it's another step onto male turf. Three years after its creation, the women's rugby team is third in the nation and determined to maintain that ranking. The team beat Delaware 67-0 on Saturday in the mid-Atlantic women's rugby playoffs, and will play in the semifinals this weekend.

For the men, it's more complicated. Some are impressed with women playing such an aggressive game, others are adjusting.

"Some guys, you get the, 'Oh my God, you're a girl and you play rugby?' They say it's a gentleman's game," said Kimberly Kesselman, a junior from Odenton who played her first game of rugby last year and is a starter on this year's academy team.

Some members of the women's team say their game might not be as bone-crunching as the men's game, but they play hard. Their cuts, scrapes and bruises have earned them respect, as evidenced by the growing numbers of male classmates at their games.

"I think we have a little bit more finesse sometimes," said Beth Simmons, a sophomore from Wyomissing, Pa. "We don't hit as hard as the men. But there's some pretty hard hits. I also think guys like to watch girls hitting each other -- in the mud, no less."

When Simmons was cut from the academy's soccer team last year -- a blessing, she says -- a friend suggested she try rugby. Like most of her teammates, she had not been in that mass pushing, shoving and kicking match that rugby players call a scrum.

Simmons found the game exhilarating and violent, but one that leads to a deep bond among teammates and a kinship with opponents, who become post-game friends.

Often, that means the traditional "third half" at a bar, where players "shoot the boot" -- a tradition invented by men, in which beer is drunk from rugby shoes.

These days, more women are boot shooters.

The USA Rugby Football Union says the number of female rugby players has doubled in the past five years with the creation of more rugby clubs and teams at high schools and colleges. In 1988, 110 colleges had women's teams. Last year, the number was 249.

In August, Eastern Illinois University became the first school to grant varsity status to its women's rugby team. The National Collegiate Athletic Association says many colleges are leaning in that direction, but most women's teams are "clubs," which means they don't get as much money or status as varsity teams.

The NCAA says women's rugby is one of the fastest-growing collegiate sports, but it has a long way to go. Because of a shortage of qualified coaches, women with limited experience playing rugby aren't getting the expert training they need to excel.

Some women aren't exposed to a wide range of sports in high school and must start from scratch when they reach college.

"The difference between coaching men and women is that so few [women] have had significant experience with hand-eye coordination-type sports," said Navy women's rugby coach Loc Vetter.

A lack of money at the collegiate level for women's rugby programs means limited resources for trainers and medical staff, but injuries are a common occurrence.

"I've gotten a black eye and a bloody nose. But nothing serious," Kesselman said.

Jamie Jisa, collegiate women's director for the Potomac Rugby Union, an association of rugby clubs, said some schools are expressing interest in women's rugby because it could help them meet the federal requirement to provide equal access to athletic funding and facilities for men and women.

Other nearby colleges with women's teams include the Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, American University and Salisbury State University.

Jisa said none has had as much success, and as quickly, as the Naval Academy's team.

"They've come a very long way in a very short time," said Jisa, who played amateur rugby for 20 years. "I very much admire those ladies."

At a recent practice on a windy afternoon at the edge of the Severn River, Simmons said she and her teammates might be small -- some are barely 5 feet tall and 100 pounds -- but have the attitude that size and gender are unimportant.

"It's all about how bad you want it," she said. "It's all about heart."

Pub Date: 3/22/99