Photos courtesy Atavus Seattle
The Pacific North Club 7s Championship occurred last Saturday in Tacoma, Wash., and two berths to the women’s national championship were on the line. Five teams – three from Northern California and two from Pacific Northwest – contested a round robin, and then Atavus Seattle defeated Life West in the final. Both squads are heading to the national tournament in Minneapolis on Aug. 12-13.
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“The team really needed this level of competition and exposure to different styles of rugby. We hadn’t had a range of teams to play up to this point,” Atavus Seattle coach Michaela Staniford explained. “To have five highly competitive games with a pretty quick turnaround was physically and mentally tiring. For the most part, we are happy with how we achieved the wins. It definitely wasn’t pretty at points but we are proud of how we battled and kept our heads.”
ORSU finished fourth at the 2016 national championship and was the main competition for Atavus Seattle throughout the summer. They faced NorCal’s San Francisco Golden Gate, the DII national runner-up in 15s; Life West, the DI 15s national champion; and Berkeley All Blues in a round robin.
“Honestly, each game was a hard-fought win. On two occasions we won by only two points, and these games could have gone either way,” Staniford praised the field. “ORSU have learnt how to be effective against us over the last few competitions and played very smart. … Life West were also an organized, mobile team who pushed us close in the pool game. Total credit to the Atavus Seattle gang for learning from this game and coming through with a much more convincing win in the final to take the top seed from this region.”
The nature of the tournament meant that all 12 players were crucial to the day’s success. Staniford lauded Megan Sanders’ performance, indicating she “had some exceptional moments throughout this competition and tipped the balance in our direction on a few occasions.”
Chelsey Birgisdottir led in the way of work ethic, positivity and team-first attitude. Lauren Barber, Anne Peterson and Carly MacKinnon distributed well and looked after the middle of the pitch. Averi Kitsch, Natalie Fuller and Erica Legaspi stretched the opposition and were reliable finishers, and Jennine Duncan “showed another gear with a number of her ball carries in close and open spaces,” Staniford added.
“Megan Jansky-Bingel and Mackenzie Garrett pulled the strings and created space for our edges whilst being threatening runners themselves,” the coach continued. “Lastly Ari Bray, who is building confidence all the time, remembered how good she was over the ball and in the collision this weekend just past.”
The roster for nationals will be announced shortly, and then the finishing touches will become the focus of the next two weeks.
“We are very aware that there is still a lot of work to be done, mostly around game management and being aware of the fine margins,” Staniford explained. “A few sloppy decisions, far too many penalties and some unforced errors meant we had to get ourselves out of some tricky situations. Fortunately we still have time to address these areas. The players are so motivated to keep moving forward and are looking like a cohesive, organized and determined sevens team.”
Atavus Seattle will join Pool D at nationals, competing against Mid-Atlantic runner-up NOVA, South champion Orlando and Midwest runner-up Minneapolis (a rebrand of the Youngbloodz that is coached by USA 7s Olympian Katie Johnson). Pacific North #2 Life West will compete in Pool A with reigning national champion Scion Rugby Academy, Frontier rep Glendale and Pacific South runner-up Tempe.
Pool play at nationals begins at 10 a.m. Central on Saturday, Aug. 12 with knockouts following on Sunday. Games will be live-streamed via The Rugby Channel. View the full schedule here.