Photos: Jackie Finlan
Sacramento and Land Park will meet in Saturday’s Rugby NorCal girls’ high school championship, and the outcome will also affect seeding for the national championship later this month. The match, in its own right, is steeped in anticipation, as it pits the longtime leader against a quickly rising program.
The Amazons graduated a lot of experience after the 2016 national title run, and this spring has been a process. The team dominated its Sacramento area opponents, save one – Land Park – and dropped a 68-point game in mid-March.
“The only good game we got this year was against Land Park,” Sacramento coach David Tausinga said of the regular-season build-up. “They had been working hard, practicing, and it showed. When we played against them we learned what we needed to do. We had our little injuries and stuff like that, but a loss is a loss.”
Tausinga estimated that 60% of his squad is new and young, and so when Land Park got up early on the scoreboard, he started rotating players onto the pitch so they could have that experience of playing good competition. That was a positive takeaway, as was the movement of players into leadership positions.
“The younger ones who returned to the team this year, they realized that they have to step it up and take on their roles as veterans now,” Tausinga said.
The Rugby NorCal post-season began with semifinal play-in matches. Since Land Park and Pleasanton won the Sacramento and Bay Area divisions, respectively, they earned byes into the semifinals. In the play-in round, the Amazons defeated Danville – which is not attending nationals this year – 49-17, while Bishop O’Dowd got a forfeit win over Mother Lode.
During last weekend’s semifinals, Land Park faced Bishop O’Dowd in a rematch of last year’s Plate championship, which the Harlequins had won. The teams also played each other in a Friday night friendly this spring, and that game ended 29-29. Land Park won 51-24 last Saturday and earned its berth to the final.
On the other side of the bracket, a truly thrilling semifinal evolved between Pleasanton and Sacramento. The Cavaliers got on the board first, as outside center Marion Sellier took the corner for one of her two first-half tries. She was a menace all day and the team’s best striker. Skyler Lewis was good off the tee, converting both and adding a penalty to cap 17 first-half points.
Sacramento scored three first-half tries on the backs of players like Kiana Correa, Malia Mailangi, Eti Haungatau, Maryjane Pasioles and Lote Tausinga. Scrumhalf Pasioles is the leader in terms of experience and creative play, and when she works with Haungatau on attack, it’s hard to imagine a better 8/9 combo in the nation. The Amazons trailed 17-15 into the half.
Sacramento was burdened by penalties, many as a result of inexperience – although Pleasanton had its lapses, like confusion on a restart that resulted in a try. Pasioles kept it interesting with a couple of well placed box kicks. She chased down one such kick and was there to intercept the pop from the ground for the try, 22-17.
The Amazons also relied on its physicality to shake the ball loose in hard-thumping tackles and had that support player right there for a turnover. Moving Tausinga from fullback to outside center aided this strategy well, and she was very good in turning turnovers into quickly gained meters.
Sacramento led by 17 points late in the game, but Pleasanton kept plugging away, sending a quick-tap over the line for a try and dotting down an errant Sacramento lineout in the try zone, 34-29 the final.
“There’s still a lot to work on,” coach Tausinga said after the semifinal. “We’re still getting it together each week. As far as putting something together to come out with a victory today, they did well.”
As for the Rugby NorCal final and the Land Park rematch, “Yes, we want to play them,” Tausinga said eagerly. “I guarantee it won’t be the same as last time.”
NorCal is sending three teams to high school nationals this year: Sacramento, Land Park and Pleasanton. Their finishes in league will affect their seedings into the May 19-20 event in Elkhart, Ind.