Atlanta at 2018 nationals / Photo: Jackie Finlan
Atlanta contested its Women’s Premier League (WPL) home opener and celebrated with a 25-7 win over New York. It was the Quins’ first victory over New York since 2015, and the victory sees Atlanta improve to 1-1 in the East Conference.
“We talked about that – that New York has been a team that we haven’t been able to overcome these last few years,” Atlanta head coach Ros Chou said. “So there was quite a bit of – not jubilant celebration, but a sense of accomplishment that we were able to do this.”
But Chou was feeling good about the team’s chances heading into Saturday’s game. Every team is stronger at home and the Quins added impact players Megan Rom and Ravyn Santiago back onto the pitch. The squad was missing Chi Chi Chudwueke to recuperation, but the versatile Lisa Jackson was a stalwart in the second row. Mo Compito was also absent but Cortney Kuehl returned to outside center from No. 8 and served as captain.
“She does a really good job managing the team,” Chou said of Kuehl. “We can get undisciplined and get in penalty trouble and she’s great at getting the team back on track.”
During the first two minutes of the match, Atlanta created a turnover and scrumhalf Bridget Kahele spied an opportunity on the weak side. The halfback quickly changed the direction of play and connected with Kuehl for the opening try.
“Obviously being on the front foot right away calmed nerves because we still had people in their first WPL game,” Chou said.
At the 20-minute mark, No. 8 Karen Faget scored and then Jackson followed for a 15-0 lead after 25 minutes. Chou praised both players for very good games.
“We thought we could go after the scrum a bit, because they didn’t have a lot of front row subs,” Chou said. “We wanted to start strong and that was a good platform for us. The scrums went our way.
“They had the upper hand in the lineouts in terms of execution,” the coach continued. “For us, because we had new personnel in this week, the timing was just off.”
New York got on the board after 30 minutes, as lock Alycia Washington scored and Gianna Solomon converted. Atlanta took that 15-7 lead into the break and built on it in the second half.
“This time last year they put up 50 points on us. And then [in the second round] they put up 60 on us. New York has been a hard team to contain in the past,” Chou said. “Defense has been our focus all year so it was huge to keep them at seven. There were a lot of double tackles, more communication and good line speed. We created turnovers, too. I was really happy with that performance.”
New York didn’t make it easy, and Chou highlighted the 10-12-13 combo of Jenn Saloman, Solomon and Sarah Levy, as well as former USA 15s captain Tiff Faaee.
“Faaee subbed in later on and gave a ton of good go-forward ball. If we had to put three people on Faaee, then we committed them,” Chou acknowledged New York’s head coach. “Chloe Jex at No. 8 also did a good job at go-forward.”
The third quarter evolved without a score, and then Kahele dotted down at minute 62, securing Atlanta the bonus point. Flyhalf Corinne Heavner added the extras and then kicked a penalty to end the match: 25-7.
Chou acknowledged Caitlane Fricia, who debuted in the WPL and celebrated with a big line break, as well as Meredith Nelson, who “is so consistent and puts so much pace on the ball on the wing. Small but mighty,” Chou said.
“We’re still missing 6-7 players,” the coach referenced injuries like Shamira Robles, players on the Roots tour in England, and a U.K. import arriving on Sept. 5. “So we’ll keep getting better and add firepower as the season goes on. Hopefully we can do enough to stay in the hunt and then when we’re at full strength we can really put pressure on teams.”
Atlanta heads to Twin Cities (0-1) next weekend, while New York hosts Chicago North Shore (1-0). In the West Conference this weekend, Glendale beat San Diego 29-17 in SoCal, and Life West topped ORSU 55-5 (see photos).