The rugby program at NVU-J is hoping to put up a scoreboard on their home field sooner than later.

The program has raised $7,000 out of the $13,000 they need to purchase and install the scoreboard.

According Lauren Philie, NVU-Johnson’s director of development and alumni relations, the need for a scoreboard crystallized during the last game of the women’s regular season.

“It was the final match against UMaine-Farmington,” she said. “The women’s team was down at halftime and they spent the second half of the game trying to come back and win. They took the lead with 10 minutes remaining, but they didn’t know how much time they had left to play and that they had taken the lead. The final whistle blew and there was silence due to not knowing who won. After a brief moment, the JSC rugby coach yelled, ‘We won!’ and they started celebrating.”

This is nothing new for Colleen Hagan, president of the women’s rugby team. She has seen this need for a couple years.

“We were brought the idea of a scoreboard because there have been so many times during games where we aren’t paying attention to the score,” she said. “We’re more paying attention to what we need to do on the field, and we lose track of the score. Over the last couple of years, the whistle would blow and we had no idea that we had even won. There were so many instances of that and the alumni office had reached out [about a scoreboard] and was really into the idea of helping us out.”

With the $7,000 they have fundraised so far, that has allowed them to purchase the scoreboard. The $6,000 they need will be for installation and solar panels so that they don’t have to run wires down to the field.

A big source of funding has come from the death of Stowe native Shawn Hayden who was a member of the JSC men’s rugby team and a coach after his playing career was over. He passed away in 2016 and the family had asked for donations to go to the university, specifically to the rugby program.

The plans call for the scoreboard to include “In memory of Shawn ‘Lucky’ Hayden” with two four-leaf clovers and the rugby logo alongside it.

Despite being pressed for time, Philie hopes to have the scoreboard up by the end of the season.