Glendale plays its first Women’s Premier League game at home this weekend, and the starting roster includes just one rookie. To boot, the Merlins’ Division I team is also playing its first Rocky Mountain league game against Black Ice, so expect a lot of hometown verve.
Most notably, Amandine Chatelier is playing both lock and No. 8! Clearly a mistake, France’s Chatelier will likely play in the loose forwards, her home for the previous two seasons. We suspect that Charlotte Thompson is actually locking, especially given the second row’s stellar performance thus far.
There’s tons of experience in the pack, and the same exact players have returned from last week’s road win against ORSU (provided Thompson is actually in the second row). Rachel Ehrecke, the Penn State back, is the strongside flanker and the only WPL first-year getting the start this week against Berkeley.
There’s just one replacement in the back line, as Allison Hale is absent from the 23. Denali Graham comes on for the co-captain, but everyone else – from halfbacks Jenny Lui and Hannah Stolba and on down the line to fullback Madison Slaught – are back from the Portland game.
The All Blues are 3-0 and coming off a scrappy 36-29 win over Chicago North Shore in the Windy City. Glendale’s reserves include several WPL first-years – Maya Learned (Harvard), Hannah Tennant (Davenport), Danielle Ordway (Davenport), Lexie Lundquist (Black Ice) – and they’ll hopefully come on for some quality experience against an always-tough Berkeley.
The game’s schedule for Saturday at 5 p.m. Mountain at Infinity Park. We’ll continue to preview rosters as they’re posted to the CMS.