Beantown is hosting the D.C. Furies in the teams’ third game of the Women’s Premier League season. The Boston side has posted its roster and some powerful additions are making their debut this Saturday:
In the forwards, Claire Collins has moved into the front row, and the Harvard grad pairs with Stanford grad Kathryn Treder at hooker. Stacey Bridges has returned to the WPL, taking a break last season after the Women’s Rugby World Cup and previously playing all games with Twin Cities, even when based in New Hampshire as Dartmouth’s assistant coach. Bridges essentially replaces first-year Amanda Schweitzer in the second row, and then the remainder of the pack – Akauma, flankers Morgan Roberts and co-captain Claire Stingely, and No. 8 Yeja Dunn – return from last week’s starting lineup.
In the backs, co-captain Tatjana Toeldte is playing a third position this season, starting at flyhalf, then inside center and now outside center. Miranda Wakimoto is back and stepping into 10, pushing Kimber Rozier out to #12.
Kelli Smith is listed on the reserves and has the potential for a WPL debut. Smith is the winner of the 2017 America’s Next Olympic Hopeful and represented the USA Falcons in Okinawa and Las Vegas, and is also an ARPTC resident. New Beantown head coach Mere Baker was a coach in Little Rock this past summer and brought some talent north (Tina Aprahamian is another example). Smith’s has 7s experience, so this is quite the 15s baptism.
The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. EDT Saturday at Union Point Sports Complex in Weymouth, Mass. TRB will preview D.C. once the roster is posted. The hope is that many of the players who joined the roster for last week’s game against New York will also travel north for an epic showdown.