The USA Women’s Eagles Sevens are heading to Vancouver, B.C., Canada for the fourth stop of the HSBC SVNS Series. The women’s tournament begins Friday, Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. PT and will culminate on Sunday, Feb. 23 with the Cup final at 5:41 p.m. PT. All games will live-stream on RugbyPass TV for free.
Back in the mix is Paris 2024 Olympian Spiff Sedrick, who steps into the co-captain role alongside fellow Olympian Kristi Kirshe.
“With this season being our foundational year of the quad, we are rotating the leadership duties to continue to build these skills with a wider range of players,” USA Women’s Eagles Sevens Head Coach Emilie Bydwell told eagles.rugby. “Alena [Olsen] and Kayla [Canett] did a fantastic job captaining the team through the first three tournaments and will continue to lead in their tactical roles. It’s exciting that we can now provide both Kirshe and Spiff with the opportunity to step into the job, both of them contributed significantly to developing the identity and culture that we have as a group and they now get a chance to lead from the front as we look to take another step forward in Vancouver.”
Leading try-scorer Nia Toliver is recovering from injury and will be absent from the Vancouver tournament. Meanwhile, Central Washington University grad and age grade standout Tessa Hann makes her first USA Women’s Eagles Sevens squad and World Series debut. Hann is a capped USA Women’s National Team 15s Eagle, but the Coloradan has roots in 7s.
The Eagles are coming off of a 6th place finish in Perth, Australia — a tournament that was marked by many learnings and provided good intel to guide training ahead of Vancouver. At present, the USA sits in fourth place in the series standings, which will determine which eight teams advance to the HSBC SVNS Series championship in Los Angeles (May 2-3).
“Heading into this next phase, we have emphasized defensive development, layering in our system approach on top of the technical emphasis around the track and the tackle that we’ve been building through the season,” Bydwell said. “We looked specifically at how we can make better decisions, taking in both pressure and attacking pictures along with increasing our understanding of how we can be effective in transition. While our learning was focused on the defensive side, we did take the opportunity to look at our mindset around attack and deepen our understanding of the attitude that we want to have, and how we can be more threatening and dynamic as a unit.”
The USA will compete in Pool B and will kick off the Vancouver against 10th-ranked China at 2:44 p.m. PT Friday. The match will mark the teams’ first game against each other this 2024-25 series. Ireland (#8) awaits in round two, and that game kicks off at 8:14 p.m. PT Friday. Saturday afternoon brings series-leading New Zealand at 2:24 p.m. PT. The USA last saw the Black Ferns in the Cape Town final.
“We’re excited for the challenges ahead in Vancouver,” Bydwell closed. “Our pool games against China and Ireland will push us in different ways, and we’re eager to learn and grow from each of them. Then, on day two, we’ll have the opportunity to test ourselves against New Zealand, currently the top team in the world.
ROSTER
Number. Name — SVNS Tournaments
1. Ariana Ramsey — 10
3. Kayla Canett — 32
6. Alena Olsen — 27
12. Kristi Kirshe (C) — 26
15. Rachel Strasdas — 4
16. Jessica Lu — 3
17. Spiff Sedrick (C) — 19
20. Autumn LoCicero — 3
24. Su Adegoke — 3
28. Sariah Ibarra — 3
30. Tessa Hann — 0
32. Alyssa Porter — 3
99. Autumn Czaplicki — 1
STAFF
Emilie Bydwell | Head Coach
Zack Test | Assistant Coach
Trey Ford | Head of Athletic Performance
Nicole Titmas | Manager of Medical Services; Head Athletic Trainer
Liz Strohecker | Head of Operations – Sevens
SCHEDULE
FRI Feb 21
USA vs China | 2:44pm PT
USA vs Ireland | 8:14pm PT
SAT Feb 22
USA vs New Zealand | 2:24pm PT
Knockout rounds begin at 6:48pm PT