About Alumni: Soccer Star Allie Gnys

Allie Gnys '10 being launched at
an incoming ball.

After they graduate, Knights frequently continue their athletic pursuits. Many play in college and afterward, whether on varsity, club, or recreational teams. Alumni frequently cite the desire to play the game in any capacity as one of the school's culture's great gifts. A PCD baseball career, for instance, might be followed by four years on a college team and later in a local rec league.

Occasionally, however, alumni jump to new sports entirely. In the case of Allison Gnys '10, currently a junior in the nursing program at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT, college presented an opportunity to try something she had never previously considered. Allie, as she is known to her friends, is in her second year as a starting lock on Quinnipiac’s NCAA Division I Rugby Team. She is a grizzled veteran on the Bobcats, which, in only its second year of existence, has relied on athletes converting from other sports.



 
Gnys' position allows her offensive and defensive opportunities and puts her in the middle of scrums, which are the massing of players at the re-start of play after a dead ball. In addition to being a lock, she is also the team's flyer, where she is lifted into the air to capture kicks that are out of bounds. This year, she has also enjoyed the opportunity to put her soccer skills to use by kicking 2 point conversions.

Being in the middle of the action is nothing new to Gnys, who captained 3 varsity sports teams at PCD and year received the Suzanne Bailey Athletic Award for Sportsmanship and Leadership in 2010.
 
But it is new for Quinnipiac and high-level collegiate women's rugby in general. The Bobcats made history last year when they flew out to Eastern Illinois to play the first-ever NCAA Division I women's rugby contest. This year the team is seeded first in its Tri-State Conference thanks to a 5-0 start, outscoring its opponents 298-19 in the process.



Her parents, Leslie and Ed '76, and her sister, Emily '15, travel to every game possible to enjoy the fast-paced, competitive, physical nature of the sport. The same elements that make the game exciting to Gnys appeal to her fans and family as well.

People switch sports for all sorts of reasons: a better opportunity to play, a desire to do something new, a friend trying out. Gnys credits her PCD teacher and lacrosse coach, Alanna Morris, who heard that Quinnipiac was putting a rugby team together and suggested the fit might be good. It turns out that Ms. Morris was correct. A little more than a year in, Gnys calls rugby "the greatest sport ever."