Stanford’s Dani McDonald / Photo: Hector Garcia Molina
The USA Falcons are back in the air for their second fixture of the year and return to the Okinawa 7s (Feb. 23-24) as reigning champions. The 11-person squad is a mix of capped Eagles, Brisbane 7s vets and newcomers to the developmental side.
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Kate Zackary leads in the way of international 7s experience (debut: 2015 Atlanta 7s) and along with Kelsi Stockert helped the Falcons to a 2017 Okinawa 7s title. Zackary, Stockert, Sarah Buonopane, Natalie Kosko and Hope Rogers, who served as Brisbane 7s captain, are the capped Eagles in Japan.
The aforementioned players, save Zackary, were all in Brisbane earlier this month representing the Falcons, as were Okinawa-bound Ashlee Byrge, Alena Olsen (read Olsen’s account of Australia) and Neariah Persinger.
Two players who picked up the sport at Stanford University are making their USA Falcons debuts. Chelsey Birgisdóttir actually propped for the Cardinal but she always found her way into the back line or open space to put her long stride to good use. Today she stays sharp with the Seattle Saracens and Atavus Academy. (Read The Rugby Breakdown’s 2016 profile.)
Dani McDonald has been a recent, prevalent fixture in the DI Pacific Mountain 15s conference, where she’s played everything from fullback, to scrumhalf to No. 8. She has excelled in all of those roles and was so important all over the pitch. Stanford has supplied its share of 7s Eagles including Amelia Villines, Frances Wehrwein and Vix Folayan.
Kelli Smith is the winner of The Next Olympic Hopeful, a talent search documentary that aired on NBC Sports Network. Smith was a long and high jumper at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and then played pro football in the Women’s Football Alliance. She’s been learning the nuances of the sport at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center and will play her first international competition in Japan.
The USA Falcons will face Japan A, Fiji and Russia during pool play. Squads from Canada, England and Australia, as well as a second Japan side, are also competing. To view the full schedule, visit the Okinawa 7s site here.
USA FALCONS @ OKINAWA 7s
Sarah Buonopane + ^Chelsey BirgisdóttirAshlee Byrge ^Natalie Kosko + ^Dani McDonaldAlena Olsen ^Neariah Persinger ^Hope Rogers + ^Kelli SmithKelsi Stockert + ^ *Kate Zackary + *
+ Capped 7s Eagle^ On Falcons team at Brisbane 7s
* On Falcons team that won the 2017 Okinawa 7s