Photos: Alex Ho (hoiho.net)
The USA Rugby Women’s College Open 7s National Championship included four DI teams and four DII teams, and day two saw the Cup and Plate competitions divide along those lines. That said, there wasn’t a huge divide between the divisions, and DII’s Bloomsburg and Kennesaw State showed they could play up.
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Both teams competed in the same pool along with DI Princeton and DI Texas A&M. While the Tigers put some distance between itself and the DII squads, winning by a combined 76-24, the Aggies beat Bloomsburg 15-12 in the teams’ first game of the tournament, and later topped Kennesaw State 19-17. When the DII teams faced each other, Bloomsburg prevailed 22-12.
“We blew our first pool match and with the tournament not reseeding all the teams 1-8 after pool play, we had little chance of making the top two of our pool,” Bloomsburg coach Kevin Castner lamented. “So after, the team regrouped and refocused on finishing the highest we could and take home the Plate.”
On day two, Bloomsburg won its Plate semifinal, and Kennesaw State topped Queens University 20-15 to set up the rematch.
“After our first game against Bloomsburg, we did make a few adjustments: more pressure on defense and have depth offensively,” Kennesaw State captain and scrumhalf Akilah Guzman explained. “We knew they had some very fast players so cutting off their space was crucial to our game.”
“I was really impressed how they improved over each match and the weekend,” Castner praised the Owls. “They were led very well by their scrumhalf [Guzman], who could change a match with her individual play alone. Along with their No. 8 they were a danger to score any time they had the ball.”
Bloomsburg took a 10-0 lead after three minutes, sending Selena Fernandez and Sarah Van Cise across for tries.
“I was both mentally and physically exhausted, but I knew I had to push on,” Guzman recalled the final. “Close games are my favorite because anything can happen in seconds in 7s.”
And with that, Guzman scored back-to-back tries, and Rose Walker’s conversion gave the Owls a 12-10 lead in the second half. There were still a few minutes to play, and Bloomsburg made good use of it.
“With us, our advantage was when we chose to use the width of the field to showcase our open-field play and speed of some of our players,” Castner explained. “But of course we needed to control and suck in teams to the short part of the field or have multiple players commit to contact for it to really open up.”
Van Cise came through and scored her second try of the game, 15-12, and the defense held on for the Plate.
“She went from a player with great potential to just a great player,” Castner singled out Van Cise for her standout performance on the weekend. “Her open-field runs were fun to watch. But her defense from sweeper over the course of the weekend went from a little shaky to completely shutting down the teams on Sunday. Best part is she just finished her sophomore year and will be around for another two years.”
Castner indicated that the team enjoyed the experience overall, as it was a nice send-off for the five seniors and introduction to championship play for the five freshmen. Bloomsburg now readies for the CRC 7s to end the year.
The trip to Colorado marked Kennesaw State’s first 7s post-season, and the Owls were equally enthusiastic about the experience.
“My first trip to 7s Nationals was amazing! Sevens is by far my favorite version of rugby and I had so much fun with my team,” concluded Guzman, who will represent the Atlantis U23s at Cape Fear 7s next month.
In other championship news, Air Force won the Open 7s title over Chico State (read more), and Lindenwood shut out Penn State 20-0 to repeat as DI Elite champion (read more).
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