Metropolis won the first Midwest 7s series stop.
The Midwest has held two of three women’s 7s series tournaments thus far, and Metropolis (Minn.) and the Chicago Lions have each taken a title. These 7s-only squads pull their members from multiple 15s clubs in their respective regions and are the leading contenders for the Midwest’s two seeds to the USA Rugby Club 7s National Championship in New York City.
At first glance, Metropolis appears to be the new team in the competition, but the foundation of the women’s side is well established.
“Our current programs have very proud roots in Youngbloodz and Minneapolis 7s,” Metropolis 7s assistant coach Mikayla Miller referenced the previous Minnesota teams that have featured at nationals. “Motivated to strengthen the club’s community feel – a club that housed men’s and women’s programs – our club joined the Metropolis Rugby Football Club family this summer.
“We are blessed to join a family with passionate, productive, and talented coaches, administrators, and athletes,” added Miller, who credited Libby Berg (Minnesota Valkyries) as a catalyst to the merger.
Sevens Eagle Garrett Bender is leading the women’s coaching staff, while Miller and Cassie Urbano (Minnesota Valkyries) support as club administrator and manager, respectively. They are backed by veteran players like Berg, and Twin Cities’ Rachel Lentsch, Katana Howard and Kaelene Lundstrum. Current collegians and Minnesota Youth Rugby alumnae CeCe Hammond (College of St. Benedict, North Suburban), Ellie Fromstein (Penn State, Hopkins) and Alexis Saari (North Dakota State, Hopkins) are all young, talented players who continue to push themselves in the senior ranks.
To kick off the Midwest 7s series, Metropolis opened up the Firehouse 7s with a 17-5 loss to Cincinnati – a team that Miller also lauded as solid competition – then steadied with pool play wins over Grand Rapids 19-5 and Legacy 34-0. The team then beat its traditionally toughest rival, Chicago Lions, 26-19 in the semifinals before exacting revenge on the Wolfhounds for the 22-5 final win and trophy. It was a solid start for the Minneapolis-based squad, and a foundation for improvement for the Lions.
“We haven’t had an outcome like that in the Midwest since 2016,” Chicago Lions captain Rose DiBalsamo reflected on Firehouse 7s. “So we made a promise to each other to use it as a learning opportunity and do everything we can on and off the field to grow from the experience.”
Photo: Amy Kish
Lions 7s coach Jeremy Nash doesn’t need to stoke the squad’s motivation, especially with tone-setters like DiBalsamo, Katie Lank, Sarah Kish (2017 captain and Nationals Dream Team selection), Devon Gold (member of the NDA 7s-winning CCIG team) and Brittany O’Dell (2017 WPL Dream Team selection) at the core.
“The most exciting part of our season is all the fresh, new talent. We have key players like Betty Nguyen (North Shore), Meg Loomis (North Shore), Aurora Macek and the most recent add-on Azania Watene, a New Zealand native,” DiBalsamo reviewed the player pool. “We are entering two teams into almost every tournament. Having this sort of depth has been great for training and is creating solid competition as players fight for a spot each week. Margins are tight and players are expected to progress week over week.”
On the second stop of the Midwest 7s series, Legacy 7s, the Chicago Lions defeated Metropolis 22-5 in the final, capping a 165-10 outing.
“Legacy 7s was a true indication of that promise,” DiBalsamo referenced the post-Firehouse 7s conversations. “[T]here was nothing but improvement game over game. Our depth is incredible, and our hard work – physically and mentally – during the off-season/currently is starting to come to fruition.”
Photo: Amy Kish
“The Lions came to Legacy prepared,” Metropolis’ Berg added. “They pushed the pace and were a threat at the breakdown. Something we hadn’t been tested on before the final last weekend. We are definitely taking the lessons learned from that final game into practice this week – using them to help us best prepare for the qualifier this weekend.”
Chicago Lions and Metropolis confirmed that qualifying for nationals is the over-arching goal, but that there is much to do and accomplish before focusing on New York City. The third series stop is this weekend in Rockford, Ill., and then the Midwest 7s Championship is July 28 in Cincinnati.
“We were really proud of our performance in 2017, but we are looking for a stronger outcome this year,” DiBalsamo noted the 7th-place finish. “The club has gone through changes in the last few years and the disposition is growth and focus.
“We know that each game is an important factor in achieving our overall goal,” the captain added. “We want to walk away from every tournament better than the previous. We only have ourselves to beat now and it is going to take all 12 Lions to do it. That is what is special about this year. Every single player is talented and needed in their own unique way.”
Metropolis currently leads the Midwest standings after first and second-place finishes with 23 points, while Chicago Lions sits in second with 22 points. Cincinnati, having finished second and third, has 21 points.
MIDWEST QUALIFIERS
June 23 – Firehouse 7s: MetropolisJuly 7 – Legacy 7s: Chicago LionsJuly 14 – Forest City 7s (Rockford, Ill.)July 28 – Cin City 7s (Cincinnati) – championship
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