The following is the women’s portion of USA Rugby’s weekly club recap, as written by The Rugby Breakdown. Read the full article here. Stay tuned for more info from Phoenix’s Jessica Carpenter and Austin’s Alicia Fischweicher.
USA SOUTH: FLORIDA
The five-team DII Florida league kicked off last weekend, as Orlando traveled to Tampa Bay for the season-opener. A well matched contest evolved, and the home side prevailed with a 12-5 win.
It was a stalemate, as far as the scoreboard was concerned, for the first 20 minutes, but then Krewe flanker Kaitlin Lindblom dotted down for the 5-0 lead. Just before the break, Orlando put wing Shontavia House away for a try, knotting the score at 5-all into halftime. The battle for dominance marked the second half, as both sides made their tactical substitutions to keep intensity at a premium. Midway through, Tampa Bay inside center Sam Black broke free for a lead-securing try and outside center Jesse DePaolo added the extras and final points of the match: 12-5 to Tampa Bay.
The Krewe enjoys a bye week in round two, while Orlando looks to regroup against visiting Fort Miami, and Jacksonville travels to Indian River for their first league game of 2020.
PACIFIC NORTH: NORCAL
All six Northern California teams were meant to take the pitch for their league openers last weekend, but the Santa Rosa vs. Life West match was cancelled. But the two games that did evolve filled the weekend with solid competition and good drama.
Berkeley traveled to Sacramento to face the Amazons, the reigning DII Club National Championship titleholders, and fell behind 15-0 in the first half. Scrumhalf Margaret Slattery, fullback Lexia Reynolds and lock Roxanne Lembke finished the scoring opportunities for the home side, and midway through the second half, prop Fancilia Lee-Lo added a fourth try.
Meanwhile, the All Blues started chipping away at the lead in the final 30 minutes of the match. Wing Sally Shatford snapped the shutout with a try in the 52nd minute, and then inside center Elena Clark and No. 8 Jazmyne Spear put down tries within minutes of each other: 20-17 with flyhalf Kat Chasakara’s conversion. Sacramento was issued two cards in quick succession, giving Berkeley a two-player advantage for eight minutes. The All Blues capitalized and in the waning minutes, Spear scored two tries for the 27-20 win.
San Francisco Golden Gate traveled to the South Bay to face San Jose, and the teams remained within two converted tries of each other until the final minutes of the match. The Seahawks went up first, as No. 8 Celeste Knight opened the scoring 10 minutes in, and then SFGG responded through flyhalf Lindsay Kinsler, who the ended the day with 18 points on two tries and four conversions, and flanker Grace McKenzie (14-5 SFGG).
Flanker Aliana Criado’s try narrowed SFGG’s margin to 14-10, but that was the closest that San Jose got to a lead change. Kinsler, McKenzie and reserve Katherine Alton added Golden Gate tries, while Seahawks wing Magnolia Morris converted outside center Mariah Blackmore’s try for another seven points: 33-17 to SFGG.
In week two, Life West and SFGG, and Berkeley and San Jose will play each other.
PACIFIC SOUTH
There were a couple of friendly matches across the three divisions, but the six-team Division III – the largest of the geographic union’s women’s club competitions this season – officially kicked off with two league games.
Santa Barbara hosted San Fernando Valley and banked a 37-22 win. Tries from Mermaids flanker Amanda Kelley (2), reserve Katie Janus, outside center Christine Kler and scrumhalf Courtney Applewhite built a 25-0 lead before San Fernando outside center Lizamarie Alvarez answered with a try.
Applewhite, Kelley and hooker Honoree Tuazon kept the scoreboard ticking over with tries, but San Fernando kept pushing and earned its bonus point with tries through flanker Guadalupe Moreno (2) and flyhalf Stephanie Peterson. A Moreno conversion capped a 37-22 decision to Santa Barbara.
First-year team Phoenix played its first official 15s match on the road against Northern Arizona, another young program building momentum in the developmental league. Phoenix came to fruition when Jillian Haretuku, who had been practicing with the men’s team, wanted to get a women’s side going, and the 50-year-old club supported. Arizona alumna Jessica Carpenter signed on and helped drive a voracious recruiting effort. The team signed Kelsea Thompson, who moved from New York, as head coach, and played a few tournaments in the fall.
“We were mostly excited for our first league game. Whatever happened we knew we were making history and this was the start of something really good,” flyhalf Carpenter said of opening-day nerves. “We were a little nervous because we hadn’t played a full 15s match for 80 minutes yet. ‘Are we fit enough for this?’”
The team traveled light with just 12 players, but despite the significant deficit, Phoenix did not want to initiate its existence with a forfeit loss. Two minutes in, player-coach and outside center Thompson scored and Carpenter converted.
“We all looked at each other, ‘Maybe we can do this,’” Carpenter remembered that confidence-boosting moment. “After that, I’ve never seen anything like it. The flow was great. Everything we worked on in practice came together in the game. Defense was fantastic, too. We all wanted to work for each other.”
Phoenix put down another five tries in the first half through Thompson (2), prop Margaret Sowell, inside center Jessica Rexrode and prop Karlee Nyborg. Carpenter added another three conversions, six on the day, for a 38-0 halftime lead.
The second half was much more even, as Northern Arizona matched Phoenix’s first-half output with 38 points, thus earning a bonus points for tries scored. But Phoenix kept pushing, even when a yellow card further handicapped the visitors, and banked a penalty try (Thompson), and scores from No. 8 Madisen Miller and hooker Stefanee Sherman: 59-38 the final.
“First of all, we were tired,” Carpenter said of final-whistle reactions. “We fell to the ground and took a breather. After that it was hugs all around and congratulating each other for all of our efforts. And for the new players, they realized, ‘This is how a rugby game goes. I think I can do this.’”
Phoenix will host its first home game this weekend and take on another new team, Riverside. Northern Arizona will travel to Santa Barbara.
RED RIVER
Austin received some recompense for its season-opening loss to Bay Area (BARC) and celebrated a 27-21 win in the rematch at home.
“They came out a lot stronger than we anticipated,” Austin captain Alicia Fischweicher said of the teams’ first meeting and five-point loss in November 2019. “We came in a little slow and they came in really heavy. … The Valkyries are not used to losing – and I don’t mean that to be cocky. Generally we’re a winning team and we don’t take it lightly when we lose.”
But again, it was BARC that made the first impact on the game, as prop Lauren Patterson scored the first try of the match and flyhalf Stephanie Wood converted. The Valkyries have spent time getting comfortable in a new pattern, and after the slow start, the team started to gel better.
Three lead changes followed. Wings Jennifer Vancura and Chelsey Arambula finished off Austin tries for a 10-7 edge, and then BARC outside center Veronica Houck dotted down and Wood converted: 14-10 to the visitors. Immediately afterward, Vancura touched down a second try (15-14) and flanker Erika Persil pushed out the differential with a score. Flyhalf Zoe Hunter’s conversion put the home side ahead 22-14.
“It was competitive the whole way through and came down to the last bit,” Fischweicher said. “We were scoring on the outside so we couldn’t convert most of our tries, and their tries were centered.”
At the 55th minute, Houck centered a second try and Wood’s conversion pulled BARC to within one, 22-21. There the game held for the next 10 minutes, until prop Brittany McGhee scored Austin’s fifth try, 27-21, and the game’s final points.
“We did a really great job of fully implementing our pattern,” Fischweicher said of difference-makers. “Now that we’ve had some real time practicing and getting that down, we’ll get stronger and faster with the pattern.”
Austin (2-1) will travel to San Antonio this weekend in a top-of-the-table showdown. Last Saturday, the Riveters traveled to Dallas Athletic with 16 rostered players and shut out the home side 64-0. San Antonio improved to 3-0.
Fullback Christine Krieger led all point-scorers with 29 on three tries and seven conversions, while centers Antea Dedic and Toni Armstrong scored two tries apiece. Lock Lauren Elliott, scrumhalf Liza Tarleton and wing Halie Green added five points each.