While the USA Rugby Women’s U20 and U23 national teams are on tour in Ottawa, Canada, the USA U18 program is holding two summer camps this month. The West Coast camp concluded on Sunday, and the East Coast camp is currently underway. (Lead photo: EPA Lady Razorhawks Facebook)
For the West Coast camp, 40 high school athletes assembled at the Univ. California Santa Barbara from July 7-10. Martha Daines, the USA Rugby Women’s High Performance Pathways Manager and U18 Head Coach, led the four-day assembly, which culminated with an intra-squad scrimmage on Sunday. At present, there is no indication that additional 15s fixtures exist for the U18s this summer.
California was well represented, understandable given the location of the camp. NorCal led all selections with 17. High School Club National Championship titleholder Sacramento PAL Amazons had four players in Santa Barbara, while Lamorinda sent three members. New and younger teams like St. Mary’s High School (the Field sisters) near Stockton, and Bay Area’s East Palo Alto and Wolverines sent a pair of stars each.
SoCal accounted for 12 invites, which also included two East Coast-based players (Morris’ Neasa McLaughlin and Massachusetts’ Skylar Jordan) who spend blocks of the year with Rhinos Rugby Academy in San Clemente. Fallbrook High School put five players into the age grade pool, and Rhinos’ footprint is all over the region.
Eagle High School’s Reece Woods / Photo: Jackie Finlan
Utah state champion Majestics and powerhouse United combined for four players, while Idaho sent three, including the Woods twins, who helped single-school national tournament newcomer Eagle High School to a 3rd place finish this past May. Texas (2) and Hawaii sent representatives to SoCal, and one player – Dartmouth commit Taylor Sadek – hails from Shanghai, China. In fact, several players who trained in Santa Barbara will feature at highly rated collegiate rugby programs this fall (read more).
There are some notable omissions, which are not necessarily the result of being overlooked. For example, there are no players from Oregon and Washington; however, the Pacific Northwest Loggers – the region’s National Development Program – is on tour in Canada this weekend and scheduled several fixtures in June and July. That’s one reason why holding these regional camps again is important: They reiterate their place on the calendar for future planning.
At present, Daines and staff are leading the East Coast assembly from July 14-17. More to come on that group once the roster is released, and stay tuned for player profiles out of both camps.
USA U18 WEST COAST CAMP
July 7-10 @ UC Santa Barbara, Calif.
Libby Benitez – Fallbrook, SoCal
Emerson Callegari – Texas Nuclear Thunder, Texas
Bryn Carter – Rocky Mountain HS, Idaho
Arabella Cassidy – San Diego Mustangs, SoCal
Cassidy Dugdale – San Diego Mustangs, SoCal
Mya Dunne – Lamorinda, NorCal
Cameron Fields – St. Mary’s, NorCal
Kori Fields – St. Mary’s, NorCal
AJ Haughey – Fallbrook, SoCal
Maya Hilger – Land Park, NorCal
Sariah Ibarra – Belmont Shore, SoCal
Lavinia Ika – Maui, Hawaii
Madison Jersey – Fallbrook, SoCal
Skylar Jordan – Rhinos, SoCal (based in Mass.)
Tohuia Kaihau – SacPAL, NorCal
Erica Kissinger – North Texas Barbarians, Texas
Lina Koi – SacPAL, NorCal
Noa Lagilagi – SacPAL, NorCal
Sherron Latu – Wolverines, NorCal
Jordis Lomu – United, Utah
Melesisi Malupo – Lamorinda, NorCal
Lionala Mayorga – Majestics, Utah
Neasa McLaughlin – Morris, N.J. / Rhinos, SoCal
MarLee Neiufi – United, Utah
Cecilia Otuhiva – Bishop O’Dowd, NorCal
Tiahna Padilla – Fallbrook, SoCal
Lucy Powell – Fallbrook, SoCal
Summer Prescott – EPA Razorhawks, NorCal
Taylor Sadek – Shanghai American School Puxi, China
Venise Sanft – EPA Razorhawks, NorCal
Danica Snyder – San Clemente/Tesoro HS, SoCal
Cindy Taulava – Pleasanton, NorCal
Sa’i Togiaso – Wolverines, NorCal
Reese Torticill – San Clemente, SoCal
Keeli Tuitasi – SacPAL, NorCal
Krystal Tupou – Majestics, Utah
Lola Unga – Wolverines, NorCal
Kayleen Vea – Lamorinda, NorCal
Olivia Woods – Eagle HS, Idaho
Reece Woods – Eagle HS, Idaho