eagles.rugby – Back on the podium, the USA Women’s Eagles Sevens closed out the HSBC SVNS World Championships in Valladolid, Spain in style with a 2nd place finish in the final against Australia. [lead photo: Alex Ho @hoiho_photo]

Bouncing forward from Hong Kong’s 5th place finish, the USA Women’s Eagles Sevens squad bounced forward from 5th in Hong Kong’s to take silver after a high octane battle with Canada in the Semi Final.

Head Coach Emilie Bydwell commented on the team’s performance:

“This weekend was really special for us. We weren’t happy with Hong Kong; not so much about the outcome, but just in terms of playing the way that we want to play. So when we go home, we really leaned into the work and intensity in the training block to deliver the performance we wanted to deliver on the field.”

“This weekend, we had the goal of topping our pool. We stumbled a little in the Fiji game, but knowing that we needed to score, knowing they needed a bonus point, the players stuck in, they gritted for it, they got us that point. And then from there, it was just about every time we played, how can we continue to evolve? and play to our identity, and get 5% better every game? I think, we really saw that across the weekend and we’re really proud of that.

“We fell short in the final. There were still some good things in there, but that’s something that we’ll work on. We’ll take what we can from this weekend, we’ll reset, and load back up for next weekend.”

Coming in as a top seed from their third place standing on the SVNS Series circuit, the USA Women kicked off against Fiji in Pool B for their opening match. The Fijians opened with a try which the Eagles fought back to deliver under the posts with speed from Ariana Ramsey, soon followed by Sammy Sullivan powering across just before the half putting the Eagles up 12-7. The Fijians restarted with a statement securing three subsequent tries before Captain Kristi Kirshe responded with the USA’s third and returning Olympic veteran Kayla Canett slotting the conversion but not leaving enough time to overtake the Fijians. Sereana Vulaono made her USA Eagles debut.

Next up, the USA held a dominant match over the South Africans scoring first with consecutive tries from Kaylen Thomas and Su Adegoke. The South Africans countered with two of their own, but Thomas ran away again for the USA’s third, with Ramsey following up to secure a 26-12 victory.

Closing out pool play, the USA Eagles were primed to take on Australia and Thomas delivered first with the Wallaroos leveling at the half. Sariah Ibarra took the offload and delivered first on the restart while sealing the conversion which would prove to be crucial as the USA took the win 14-10 despite a subsequent Australian try.

USA Women got a second chance with Fiji in the quarterfinal. Kirshe received on kick off runs down the ball bringing it close to the line before the team offloads and eventually sets up Rachel Strasdas to get the ball down on the wing and cement the first try. Ramsey finds space and runs in a second before Su Adegoke adds another. Fiji found space to run down the wing and dot down under the posts, following up with a subsequent try to bring them back in contention 21-14 at half time. But the USA veterans took the second half into their own hands with tries from Kirshe, Sullivan, and Sedrick closing out the Fijians 40-12 to earn their spot in the Semi Final.

In the Cup semifinal against North American rivals, Canada opened with intensity taking two tries and conceding none to the USA in the first half leaving the Eagles with work to do at 0-12. But in her debut tournament, Sereana Vulaona took her chance and dotted down right under the posts. Thomas followed up with Canett clinching both conversions adding the points needed to take the win 14-12 over the Canadians and advance to the Finals for their first time in the series.

Australia opened hard and fast taking three consecutive tries before Ramsey reacted and ran a try in to bring the Eagles back in ahead of the half. Australia take the run on the blind side of the base of the scrum to secure the Wallaroos’ fourth try. Erica Coulibaly followed up to secure another for the USA Eagles but the Australians sealed the match.

The USA Women’s Eagles Sevens travel to Bordeaux, France to get set for their final stop of the season this weekend kicking off June 5th-7th. All matches will be streamed live on Paramount+. Fans can also follow along the journey on the USA Eagles new dedicated instagram account @USAEagles7s

USA 7s ROSTER

#1 Ariana Ramsey – 22 caps
#2 Erica Coulibaly – 7
#3 Tahna Wilfley – 8
#8 Spiff Sedrick – 26
#9 Cass Bargell – 1
#12 Kristi Kirshe (C) – 38
#15 Rachel Strasdas – 15
#19 Kaylen Thomas – 12
#22 Sammy Sullivan – 23
#24 Su Adegoke – 14
#7 Kayla Canett – 37
#28 Sariah Ibarra – 14
#14 Sereana Vulaono – 1
#99 Autumn Czaplicki – 10

STAFF

Emilie Bydwell | Head Coach
Tony Roques | Assistant Coach
Charlie Purdon | Technical & IDP Skills Coach
Ben Pinkelman | Support Coach
Lauren Barber | Performance Analyst
Trey Ford | Head of Athletic Performance
Ashley Morataya | Assistant S&C
Nicole Titmas | Head of Athlete Health & Wellness – 7s / Women’s 7s Head ATC
Meghan Chambers | Rehab Specialist
Jackie Rodriguez | Athletic Trainer
Jacque Scaramella | Dietician
Peter Haberl | Sport Psychologist
Liz Strohecker | Head of High Performance Operations – 7s
Maria Adams | High Performance Operations Coordinator – 7s

RESULTS

VALLADOLID

Fiji 26-19 USA
Tries: Ramsey, Sullivan, Kirshe
Conv: Ibarra, Canett

USA 26-12 South Africa
Tries: Thomas (2), Adegoke, Ramsey
Conv: Ibarra (2), Canett

USA 14-10 Australia
Tries: Thomas, Ibarra
Conv: Ibarra (2)

QF: USA 40-12 Fiji
Tries: Strasdas, Ramsey, Adegoke, Kirshe, Sullivan, Sedrick
Conv: Ibarra (3), Canett (2)

SF: USA 14-12 Canada
Tries: Vulaono, Thomas
Conv: Canett (2)

Final: USA 27-14 Australia
Tries: Ramsey, Coulibaly
Conv: Ibarra, Wilfley

2026 HSBC SVNS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

April 17-19 | Hong Kong – 5th
May 29-31 | Valladolid – 2nd
June 5-7 | Bordeaux

2025-26 HSBC SVNS SERIES

Nov 29-30 | Dubai – 5th
Dec 6-7 | Cape Town – 4th
Jan 31-Feb 1 | Singapore – 4th
Feb 7-8 | Perth – 4th
March 7-8 | Vancouver – 3rd
March 14-15 | NYC – 3rd