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The Southeast is ready for the USA Rugby Women’s U23 All-Star 15s Tournament, selecting 26 players for the June 19-21 event in Clearwater, Minn. On Friday, the Reapers are slated to play the Pacific Coast Grizzlies (10 a.m. CT), Central South (12:30 p.m. CT) and Rocky Mountain Peaks (2 p.m. CT) in 40-minute matches. Saturday is a rest day and includes presentations from USA national team coaches Jack Hanratty (15s) and Emilie Bydwell (7s), and then Sunday is final placing matches. [lead photo: Mike Conners @mikeconnersphoto23]
RELATED: Day 1, Field 1 Livestream • more streaming info
Led by head coach Lisa Jackson, the Southeast is unique in that the entire U23 squad is composed of collegiate student-athletes — or close to it, with just-graduated college seniors or rising freshmen. Also unique is the fact that the U23 Reapers played outside of the all-star tournament run-up. In early December 2025, the team traveled to Texas to compete in Tier 2 of the 2025 Mary Graham All-Star 15s Tournament. The Reapers lost their opener to eventual Tier 2 champion Eastern Pennsylvania and then rebounded on Day 2 with a win against Mid-America. And then in February 2026, the Southeast played NCAA DI Queens University of Charlotte, a program that has contributed four players to the 2026 U23 all-star team.
Also on the squad are a pair of returners in Mara Homoly and Maddie Hughes, who are playing their regular-season ball in Wales with Cardiff Metropolitan University. In addition to Queens and Cardiff Met, another 13 college rugby programs are represented. Ten players are coming from DI and DII NCAA programs, including Harvard’s Neasa McLaughlin, who joined the Southeast after the Northeast withdrew from the competition late last week. She is linked to Jackson, who coached the Crimson prop while she was with Rhinos in high school.
DI-AA Lander University placed the most players – six – on the squad and is one of seven National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) 15s teams contributing to the U23 side (NCAA Brown and AIC compete in NIRA’s 15s season and NCR’s 7s season). DI-AA James Madison, Florida State, UNC and NC State, and DII South Florida and Coastal Carolina are also NCR teams. The youngest player on the squad is Nakato Myers, who wrapped up high school rugby this spring with the Raleigh Cobras and is heading to NCAA DI Dartmouth College in the fall. See more commits.
SOUTHEAST U23 REAPERS
Olivia Baptiste – Brown Univ (VA native)
Logan Boone – James Madison Univ
Bailey Borum Gray – La Salle Univ (NC native)
Cassie Cirella – Coastal Carolina Univ
Rachel Hammelman – Lander Univ
Camryn Henderson – AIC (TN native)
Mara Homoly – Cardiff Met Univ, Wales (NC native)
Maddie Hughes – Cardiff Met Univ, Wales (NC native)
Savanah Lewis – Univ South Florida
Ella Litwin-Scanzani – Queens Univ of Charlotte
Neasa McLaughlin – Harvard Univ (NJ native)
Satya Miller – AIC (TN native)
Sydney Molaski – Lander Univ
Nakato Myers – Raleigh Cobras (Dartmouth ’30)
Lindsey Pysell – Lander Univ
Kacey Reynoso – Lander Univ
Jessica Rosenblum – Florida State
Sierra Santiago – Dartmouth College (NC native)
Salome Schmitt – Queens Univ of Charlotte
Jay Stone – Queens Univ of Charlotte
Reagan Van Graan – Queens Univ of Charlotte
Rosie Wester – Univ North Carolina
Keyonna Wilson Rhodie – NC State Univ
Chandler Winstead – Univ North Carolina
Abigail Zubieta Robinson – Lander Univ
Lily Venegas – Lander Univ