On Feb. 10, the Pacific Northwest (PNW) Selects played a curtain-raiser for the Major League Rugby game between host Seattle and visiting Utah. The intra-squad 15s match took place inside Starfire Stadium, which later saw the Seawolves beat the Warriors 20-17.
RELATED: Game photos on Instagram
Forty-two players from Women’s Premier League, Division I and Division II teams in Idaho, Oregon and Washington came together for the game. Seattle was best represented with 17 players, while the WPL ORSU Jesters contributed seven players. Tacoma (5), Portland (3), Bend (2), Boise (2), Eugene (2), Salem (2) and South Sound (2) also had multiple reps in the exhibition game. Ten of those players also traveled to the 2021 Mary Graham All-Star 15s Tournament in Texas and helped the program to a Tier 1 title in December.
RELATED: PNW Selects Match video
PNW Selects Director of Rugby Lance Pruett indicated that it was a fun game, and the back and forth on the scoreboard reflects as much. The first 10 minutes were spent testing each other, and then Green went up 10-0 on back-to-back tries from Tiffany Mallick and Emily Barber, both of Seattle. Ten minutes later, Marlena Urvater (Seattle) put the White side on the board with the game’s third try and regular-season teammate Carly MacKinnon kicked the first of two conversions. Before the end of the shortened half, ORSU’s Alex Fletcher scored to extend Green’s lead to 15-7.
MVP Emele Tanupa / Twitter photo courtesy @SeawolvesRugby
Portland’s Nina Munson scored two tries for White, but in between, Green sent Barber, Jade Hill (ORSU) and Fei Oloi (Tacoma) away for tries. After 51 minutes, Green led 30-12. MacKinnon converted Munson’s second score and Seattle’s Gabrielle Fernandopulle also dotted down. Emele Tanupo (Boise) the last of Green’s tries for the 35-24 win.
The PNW Selects are also planning a tour to New Zealand around the Women’s Rugby World Cup in October2022.
PNW SELECTS GREEN
Emily Barber – Seattle
Taylor Bell – Tacoma*
Jess Berg – Seattle
Dan Cole – Seattle
Emily Colvin – Portland
Rogers Feddersen – Tacoma*
Alex Fletcher – ORSU*
Shoni Fuqua – South Sound
Kelsey Giggenbach – ORSU
Jade Hill – ORSU
Monica Leosa – Tacoma
Tiffany Mallick – Seattle
Mariko Moore – ORSU*
Fei Oloi – Tacoma
Anne Peterson – Seattle
Jessie Scott – Tacoma
Emele Tanupa – Boise*
Leena Vien – Boise
Cat Whitaker – Eugene
Zoe Wilson – ORSU
PNW SELECTS WHITE
Val Bank – Seattle
Josie Blackwell – Portland
Rebecca Brown – Boise
Elena Cantorna – Seattle
Gabrielle Fernandopulle – Seattle
Seneca Friends – Seattle
Jenny Johnson – Seattle
Louisa Keating – Bend*
Claire Lundy – ORSU*
Carly MacKinnon – Seattle
Margaret Manka – Seattle
Liz Mastrangelo – ORSU*
Hattie McKay – Seattle
Cassandra Miller – Eugene*
Michelle Morse – South Sound
Nina Munson – Portland
Julia Pedro – Salem*
Teeta Pedro – Salem
Lili Shi – Seattle
Gabby Simmons – Seattle
Marlena Urvater – Seattle
Juliana Vazquez – Seattle
* Competed on the Mary Graham All Star-winning team in Dec. 2021