USA Rugby photo
USA RUGBY PRESS RELEASE – The Women’s Collegiate All-American XVs have named their full squad for All Star Week taking place August 1st and 3rd at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.
The event will bring together four teams including the All-Americans, Women’s Premier League East & West All Stars, as well as a D1/D2 All Star team. On Day One, the WPL West and D1/D2 All Stars will play each other first, at 3 PM MT, after which the All-Americans will face the WPL East All Stars at 5 PM MT.
In between the two match days, the All-Americans will play an exhibition game against the Glendale Merlins’ Division I team at 5:30 PM before the main event resumes on August 3.
There, losers from Day One will face off at 9:30 AM with winners playing in the final at 11:30 AM. Admission is FREE to all fans with a LIVE stream available on the Women’s Premier League Facebook Page, facebook.com/wplrugby.
Head Coach Katie Dowty’s full squad features four capped Women’s Eagles including Azniv Nalbandian, Annakaren Pedraza, McKenzie Hawkins and McKenna Strong, alongside a wealth of up-and-coming talent from the collegiate programs across the country.
Over the past several months, Women’s Collegiate All-American Opportunity Days served as an important setting for new faces and returning All-American players to vie for selection.
“Following a great turnout at our four Regional Opportunity Days, we are very excited to introduce some new faces from a wide range of collegiate programs into the pathway,” said Dowty. “We also anticipate some breakout performances from our returning All-American players, who we will rely on to set a high standard and prove they are capable of elevating the team’s performance as a whole.
“The All-Star Week will be USA Rugby’s toughest domestic competition of the year – a welcome challenge for these up and coming players. They will gain valuable experience in highly competitive matches and are eager to show what they can do at this level.”
“This All Star Week is a hugely important opportunity platform for all the players involved,” said USA Women’s National Team XVs Head Coach Rob Cain. “Within a month I will personally have had eyes in person on the Eagles squad at the Super Series, the next generation of players with the Under-20s in the Tri Nations Cup and now with the remaining pool of players who are pushing so hard to take center stage with this event.
“It’s exciting to see the inner competition show what these athletes can do, how far they’ve developed away from their last sighting and why we should be including them in the player pools for high performance.”
Admission for All Star Week is free to all fans with score updates communicated across USA Rugby’s social media channels.
WOMEN’S COLLEGIATE ALL-AMERICAN XVs FULL SQUAD
Siale Alatini – Back row, American International College
Dana Alimena – Back row, Pitzer College
Emerson Allen – Lock, Eckerd College
Emma Auld – Flyhalf, Virginia
Spencer Boldt – Fullback, Central Washington
Emily Briggs – Prop, Brigham Young
Naomi Carrillo – Center, UC Santa Barbara
Hope Cooper – Hooker, Cal
Isabel Cuddy – Center/Wing, Sacred Heart
Elisha Fromstein – Hooker, Penn State
Summer Harris-Jones – Wing, Life University
McKenzie Hawkins – Center, Lindenwood
Leah Ingold – Flyhalf, Central Washington
Bridget Kahele – Scrumhalf, Life University
Matilda Kocaj – Center/Wing, Babson College
Jennifer Kronish – Lock, Harvard
Karissa Lacy – Hooker, Life University
Rebecca Luedke – Prop, Chico State
Daisy Manoa – Center, MiraCosta College
Grace Martin – Prop, Quinnipiac
Diana May – Back row, Utah Valley
Azniv Nalbandian – Prop, Penn State
Sophia Nieves – Lock, Middlebury College
Akweley Okine – Prop, Harvard
Bianca Ortiz-Pallen – Back row, Central Washington
Veronica Overbeek – Prop, Davenport
Jetta Owens – Center, Virginia Tech
Anna Park – Back row, Stanford
Anna Karen Pedraza – Scrumhalf, Lindenwood
Sophie Pyrz – Scrumhalf, Penn State
Genevieve Quirion – Back row, Harvard
Katherine Ramage – Scrumhalf, Dartmouth College
Emily Roskopf – Center, Quinnipiac
Allie Schrenker – Back row, UT Chattanooga
Gianna Soloman – Back row, Penn State
Vanessa Somoza – Lock, Chico State
McKenna Strong – Lock, Lindenwood
Caitlin Weigel – Center, Harvard
Adrienne Yoder – Fullback, Air Force
WOMEN’S COLLEGIATE ALL-AMERICAN STAFF
Head Coach | Katie Dowty
Assistant Coach | Tiff Faaee
Assistant Coach | Dave Clancy
Assistant Coach | Justin Moss
Physical Performance | Stacey Bridges
Project Soar Shadow Coach | Lindey Wise
Athletic Trainer | Jade Callan
Athletic Trainer | Amie Kern
Team Manager | Annemarie Farrell
ALL STAR WEEK SCHEDULEAll Times Mountain | Stream LIVE on facebook.com/WPLrugby
THURSDAY, AUGUST 1
3 PM: WPL West All-Stars vs Club D1 & D2 All-Stars
5 PM: WPL East All-Stars vs Women’s Collegiate All-Americans
SATURDAY, AUGUST 3
9:30 AM: Losers of Thursday’s matches
11:30 AM: Winners of Thursday’s matches
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