Sarah Levy made her Olympic debut in Paris this year, where she became part of a history-making American women’s rugby team that beat out Australia in the bronze medal final Tuesday.
It was at Northeastern University that Levy fell in love with the sport, and her coach there said he couldn’t be more proud of her success.
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“I’ve been on cloud nine for several weeks now,” Keith Cattanach, women’s head rugby coach at Northeastern, said. He’s been watching his former player carefully and was thrilled to see her come out strong in the first match against Japan. The excitement only grew for the coach as he saw Levy, alongside stars like Ilona Maher and Kirsti Kirshe, succeed in claiming a bronze medal for Team USA in the match against Australia.
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Cattanach said when he first met Levy she had never played rugby before, but her speed and athleticism quickly made her a standout.
“She came in very green and then we saw her athleticism shine in a very short time,” he recalled. “Once she got the confidence of playing and understanding the game, it was like night and day,” he recalled.
Levy is the first player Cattanach has seen go on to the Olympics. He said he always believed she was capable of the world stage.
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“It’s surreal," he said. "It’s rewarding to say something and it actually happen. She had the ability to get to this stage, she had the speed, the athleticism but after her time with us she still pushed and excelled."
When Levy first came to Northeastern, Cattanach said, rugby was a sport few students had played before college. But he believes players like Levy and her teammates have changed the future of women's rugby and he now sees more and more students with experience in the sport joining his program.
"At Northeastern we’ve built a culture where everybody can come in and play and our athletes are already excited to keep going," he said.
Cattanch said he is hoping to bring Levy back to Northeastern to visit with the team at some point. She graduated in 2018.
