Photos: Jackie Finlan
When United entered its first national tournament in 2016, its third-place finish became a massive achievement from which to build. For everyone else, the Utah team’s performance served as notice that there was a new title contender developing. On Saturday, United made good on that threat and defeated Fallbrook 36-7 in the 2017 Girls’ High School Club National Championship.
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As United mobilized for the 2017 season, Fallbrook traveled to Utah for an early-season friendly. The Warriors returned to southern California with a loss and some lessons, while United banked some confidence.
“The bad thing about the Fallbrook game is now they know you’re coming,” United coach Matt Kanenwisher said. “You know they’re going to bring your best when they play you. I was a little worried [about nationals], but I also felt more comfortable knowing the lay of the land.”
Kanenwisher credited the big senior class for keeping the team focused on incremental goals and fostering the momentum that comes with achieving them. The coach lent special praise to Kat Stowers, Charity Tenney and Maili Schaap in their roles within the squad.
“We have players who always play well, but [Stowers, Tenney, Schaap] did their jobs leading on and off the field,” Kanenwisher said. “They’ve played some high-level rugby, so when they don’t get nervous, the other girls don’t get nervous – they don’t panic.”
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The first test in Elkhart, Ind., was the big, physical South Bay in the quarterfinals. The rain held off and United put down a 38-0 victory. The conditions changed hours later, as rain and slick conditions challenged the flow of teams’ games. But United scored three tries in each half against Land Park in the semifinals for the 34-5 win. The Harlequins were also competing in their second-ever national tournament and ended up fourth after a 20-12 loss to Sacramento.
“We were playing some good rugby in spots,” Kanenwisher reflected on the first two games. “That’s been our one thing we’d like to improve on. We’ll have 20 minutes when it’s just great, and then we lose focus and things like that. In the second game, with the rain, you just try to get through it.”
On the other side of the bracket, Fallbrook won its quarterfinal 17-0 over Morris and an abbreviate semifinal over Sacramento. The match was tied at 3-3 as halftime approached, when the referee called the game. More on that multi-faceted situation in a separate article.
“Just possession,” Kanenwisher said of areas of concern when playing Fallbrook. “We have enough offensive players and talent that the longer we have the ball, it’s going to happen eventually. We don’t have the greatest kick-return plan sometimes, so you really just worry about possession – if we have the ball, we can score.”
And that’s just what United did in the final. Fallbrook hurt itself with a buildup of penalties early on, and wing Peyton Frazier capitalized on the territory with a streaking run down the sideline for a corner try. She’d flex her tackle-slipping skills in the second half for a second try, and was really key on defense, too.
Fallbrook answered with its only try of the match, converting a diveover score halfway through the first half, but then United added two more tries before the break. Tenney finished off a series of fast, crisp passes in the try zone. And then forward McKay Peisley chipped over the defense, chased down her kick to disrupt the pick-up, and came up with the ball. She pulled into open space for the long-range score. Stowers, who was named championship MVP, converted both, 19-7 into the break.
United maintained its trend of scoring three tries per half. Peisley got her second after United did an excellent job of cleaning up an errant pass and then working through the defense. Frazier’s second score was an individual effort, one where she really showcased her speed. And then Stowers won the race to the try zone after two kicks off the ground, only to be met with a massive collision at the grounding, 36-7.
“They did it themselves. … They’re just good, motivated girls, and rugby’s their sport, and they just wanted it to happen,” Kanenwisher said. “This entire year, we just felt that it could be done.”
Congratulations to United, and here’s hoping its graduates stay in the game.
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