Sunday marked the last of the Super Regional Championships (SRCs), and now USA Club Rugby knows its national semifinalists for women’s Division I and Division II. They will join semifinalists from men’s DI, DII and DIII in Indianapolis for the 15s season’s finale on Friday-Sunday, May 16-18. [lead photo: David Hughes @davidhughesphoto]

Heading into the weekend, Division I already knew three of the four national semifinalists. Metropolis had qualified in the fall, and Houston Athletic Rugby Club (sHARC) won the Red River against in mid-April. The Utah Vipers won the Pacific last weekend, beating San Diego and Seattle by a combined 10 points. Read more.

 

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So that left the Atlantic, which played out this weekend in Portsmouth, R.I. During Saturday’s semifinals, top-ranked NOVA spent the first 25 minutes against Philly scoring 33 points, as Jo Asumang, Taylor McLean, Ariel Johnson, Melesa Morrissette and Camille Johnson, who also kicked four conversions, all scored tries. Philly responded in the middle match, and the team was rewarded with tries through Nikki Snyder (2), who is back from Tampa Bay, Katie Cardone, Kathleen Stanley and later Kathryn Janssen. Stanley also added four conversions. But NOVA was still cranking in the second half and restored some distance through Allison Tong (2) and Gloria Reyes tries — 48-33 the final.

Meanwhile, Boston and Raleigh enjoyed a try-trading affair during the first half of their semifinal. Catherine Ordile, Victoria Izsa, Alexandra Nelson scored for Boston in the first 40, and Stacey Markovic converted two. Raleigh put Charlotte Grozel away for two tries and Katie Leadbetter’s conversion made it 19-12 into the break. Crucially for Boston, the team put down the next two tries in the second half through Olivia Bacon and Dill Dillingham. Markovic kicked both conversions for a 33-12 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Venom did have the final say with a third Grozel try and Leadbetter conversion, but Boston held on for the 33-19 win.

 

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Sunday’s final between NOVA and Boston was a bit less dramatic. The reigning national champion kept its opposition off the scoreboard for 65 minutes, having already scored 40 points. Boston finished strong and claimed 17 points through try-scorers Dillingham, Isabel Haber and Tiffany Arce, and a Markovic conversion. All told, Camille Johnson (3T, 5C), Emily Fulbrook (2T), Katie Mueller (T), Ariel Johnson (T) accounted for NOVA’s points.

NATIONALS

The semifinals will be held on Friday, May 16. First up will be top-ranked NOVA against Northern rep Metropolis, kicking off at 3 p.m. EDT on field 1. Following at 5 p.m. on field 2 will be Utah Vipers vs. sHARC. DI has Saturday to recuperate, and then its finals only on Sunday. The DI championship is at 12:45 p.m. on field 2. Live-stream information is TBA.

Stay tuned for DII and DIII summaries.