Coartney McKinney is one of the newest faces on the Eastern women’s rugby team this year, but she didn’t wait long to make her mark.

In her first game as a Panther, the walk-on forward/wing made her presence known by drilling a two-point conversion through the uprights in the closing minutes on Sunday, in a 12-10 season opening Panther victory against the Wisconsin College All-Stars in Milwaukee.

The clutch kick marked the beginning of what looks to be a solid collegiate rugby career for McKinney, who before this year, had never played one minute of rugby.

She played basketball and soccer in high school, sports that she said helped her on the rugby field.

“She’s got a good sports background,” Eastern head women’s rugby coach Frank Graziano said. “She played several sports in high school, but knew nothing about rugby. But that’s OK.”

Graziano said McKinney is a good athlete and hard worker and performed well in a critical game moment. He said she had a good opportunity to get a starting spot on the team and then played well.

“I was just trying not to over think,” McKinney said. “It was a fairly simple kick.”

But for a simple kick, McKinney hasn’t stopped receiving congratulations since Sunday. One of her teammates even joked that she was glad it was not her out there.

“Being new and everything it was nice seeing some potential I have to play and contribute,” McKinney said. “It was great to be able to play a hand in the win.”

McKinney said her teammates have helped her adjust to rugby. She said her Panthers’ teammates have been welcoming, and the Eastern women’s rugby team might be the most fun team she has played on.

And the Panthers are just as happy to have McKinney as she has picked up the game quickly and successfully helped her team to its ninth consecutive season-opening victory.

“She is only a couple weeks into her rugby career, and an hour and a half actually playing a game,” Graziano said. “She had to make a couple critical tackles too. All in all I would say she did very well. I’m really excited for her. She was ecstatic and had a great opportunity to do some good things out there and was up to the task.”

McKinney brings another solid athletic and smart player to the rugby team this year. Her kicking skills from soccer and her defensive skills from her years spent on the basketball court aid her on the rugby field.

“She is so young in her rugby career,” Graziano said. “I think her strengths are personality. She is a very hard worker, has some good athletic skills. She’s tough, she’s a fast learner. I think it’s those things that aren’t necessarily rugby related, it’s Coartney personality related, and natural athletic ability related.”

As the Panthers prepare for their weekend game against Iowa State, McKinney said she is looking forward to a better game, both individually and as a team.

“After even just one game I feel like I have a better understanding of rugby,” she said. “And looking back I see that I could have done things differently. I feel like as a team we know more about what were doing. We’ve been getting a lot of work done in this week’s practice, and hopefully we can play a much better game this week.”

Richard Morse can be reached at 581-7944 or at [email protected].