The Rugby Breakdown produces the women’s portion (below) of the USA Rugby weekly club recaps. Click here to read the full article (that includes the men’s updates).
Tampa Bay (4-1) logged another bonus-point win in DII Florida and defeated Indian River (0-5) 48-7. Jesse DePaolo, Marie Anceaux (2), Victoria Jarrett, Trelawney Baisden, Sam Black, Latrisha Jarrett and Jessie Premet scored tries, and Robyn Oliveri kicked four conversions. Ruby Sheets prevented the shutout with a try in the 65th minute and Regina Gaglione kicked the conversion for Indian River.
“Indian River provided solid defense, forcing a number of errors, and putting us on the back foot several times,” Tampe Bay head coach James Woollcombe-Clarke explained. “It took a minute, but Krewe maintained focus, found their groove, applied continuous pressure throughout the game, and came out with a well earned win. I’m pleased with our execution of our game plan, and the ability of both teams to maintain intensity up to the 80th minute.”
Meanwhile, Orlando put 20 points between itself and Jacksonville (2-2-1) and improved to 3-1-2.
The Utah Vipers (1-2) traveled to Texas for a DI Frontier Red River double-header and started the weekend with a big 95-5 win over the Dallas Harlequins. The hosts prevented the shutout with a Maria Garza try in the 60th minute. Austin, however, dominated the Sunday showdown with a 42-5 win. The 4-0 Valkyries moved the ball around, sending fullback Chelsey Arambula, No. 8 Geraldine Thomas, flanker Jacqueline Tobar, prop Jessica LaMoe, lock Julia Fortkort and wing Amethyst Gamez in for tries. Flyhalf Jordan Heller kicked two penalties in addition to the majority of conversions.
St. Louis (4-0) and Queen City (1-2) restarted DII Mid-America league play, and the Sabres exited Saturday with a 66-7 win.
“We’ve been somewhat limited on time and space for practices, and perhaps that played a part in it, but we started the game pretty flat and were definitely rusty,” St. Louis head coach Amy Holtsclaw recapped. “As they always do, though, the players turned it around and ended with a much better flow and improved ability to play off of each other.”
St. Louis sent Jennifer Pautz, Brittany David (2), Jessica Gannon and Sarah Wheeling in for first-half tries, and Meredith Schwartz and Sloane Hecimovich added conversions for a 29-0 lead at the break. Schwartz, Grace Hovde (3), Dominesha Newton (2) and Jessica Weston added second-half tries, and the game ended with a Chaos penalty try.
“We’ve implemented some new concepts and strategies for this season, and Springfield showed us that we definitely have quite a bit of work to do,” Holtsclaw added. “Additionally, for this match, we mixed up the roster to get some less experienced players time on the pitch and had some others in secondary positions. Quite a few of our experienced players stand out in every match, but of the less experienced, two who really stood out to me were Jess Gannon and Lindsey Kren. Both played aggressively and challenged the defense when they had the ball.”
Berkeley is now the firm leader in DII NorCal, improving to 5-0 with a 51-7 win over the Sacramento Amazons (3-2). All Blues hooker Monica Marquez, lock Elise Bonfiglio (2), wing Teru Baker, No. 8 Jazmyne Spear, outside center Madeline Cannan, wing Maria Victoria Abrenica, fullback Sally Shatford and reserve Cathy Cai scored tries, and flyhalf Kat Chasakara added four conversions.
San Francisco Golden Gate played its final game at the Ray Sheeran Field on Treasure Island, and commemorated the end of an era with a 12-10 win against San Jose. Lindsey Kinsler scored all of Gate’s points, while Teagan Hughes and Maxine Fonua scored tries for the Seahawks.
Tacoma is still undefeated in the DII Pacific Northwest and beat South Sound (2-2) 100-5 on Saturday. No. 8 Madison Feddersen, flyhalf Audrey Falconi (3), scrumhalf Blaine Martin (3), outside center Noelle Heiser (4), wing Deirdra Tooker, fullback Shannon Parker and reserves Hea Makaafi, Monica Leoso and Jessica Scott all scored tries. Parker added 10 conversions.
“The team has been working really hard in the off-season around organization and patience,” Tacoma player-coach Martin noted. “We have been focusing on creating space and earning our attacking options, and the team really executed on that against South Sound. The Assassins have some really good pace and some lethal attacking options, so we knew we had to starve them of ball. All in all we are happy with the game we played and will continue to build on that momentum throughout our season.”
Emerald City (5-0) still leads the 10-team league and will return to play this weekend.
San Diego served Tempe (3-1) its first loss of the DI Pacific South season, 54-31. Surfers fullback Diana Griessler led in the way of tries with three, and Ninjas flyhalf Heleni Kuma also crossed for multiple scores. Meanwhile, Santa Monica (2-2) toppled Belmont Shore (0-4) 78-14. There are two more rounds of league play before the title match.
In Division II, Las Vegas (2-1) banked a 31-17 win against Old Pueblo and surpassed Pasadena, also 2-1, in the standings on point differential.
“Our win over our respected foe, the Tucson Lightning, was a test of our team’s resolve to pull off an away victory,” Las Vegas head coach Bruce Tolley explained.. “As usual, the Lightning pushed us to our limit through the first half with the match even at 12-12.”
Catrin Turner and Haylee Holsclaw scored tries and Danielle Schumacher kicked the extras for the Slots. Kristina Aprahamian and Jessica Szakacs dotted down for the Lightning, and Alex Rath added the conversion.
“Focusing on the game plan and exercising better discipline in the second half pulled the team together and allowed us to pull away with three additional tries and two conversions,” the coach continued. “Our deep sub pool helped tremendously with fresh legs and understanding the game plan. It was a wonderful team effort.
“Our wrecking ball award went to one of our subs, Tamerus Griffin, who pummeled the opposition with counter-rucks and hard running,” the coach continued. “Forward of the match went to Jeru Ako. Her tackling and rucking simply stood out along with two tries. Back of the match went to Danielle Schumacher. As captain, she distributed the ball, communicated across the board along with solid defense and several breakaway runs.”
Santa Barbara improved to 3-1 in DIII after posting 42 points on Riverside. Santa Barbara prop Susanne Saldivar and flyhalf Courtney Applewhite scored two tries apiece, and hooker Christie Pasamonte, scrumhalf Amanda Kelley, fullback Kathryn Culhane and inside center Danielle Morrison added a score apiece. Brittany Rickman added the conversion. Northern Arizona also defeated San Fernando Valley in DIII.
San Antonio is 6-1 in DII Red River after a 60-0 win against Dallas. Fullback Christine Valliant led all point-scorers with 25 on two tries, six conversions and a penalty kick. Halie Green and Caitlin Burkhart scored two tries apiece, and Keeley Coker, Antea Dedic and Emily Fillmore crossed for five points each. The Riveters take a two-week break before facing Austin in a rematch of the team’s only league loss. Little Rock hosted Dallas Athletic (1-5) in a 67-15 win and is now 3-1.
When Memphis (2-1) and Knoxville (1-2) met for their fall matrix match in DII True South, the Flamingos won 31-20. In Saturday’s rematch, the Minx served as hosts and responded with a 34-0 victory. Knoxville logged Alyson Pointer, Alexi Eidam, Chelsea Robi, Kristen Coulston, Caitlin Molyneaux and Haley Forman tries, while Coulston and Amy Satkowiak kicked the extras.
“It was clear that Memphis has been putting in work. We saw that last year and again this weekend. They upped their game, and it helped us to not become complacent. It’s so easy to do when you’ve won the union a few years in a row,” Knoxville president Haley Forman explained. “The beating we took from them last year was the wake-up call we needed, and we put in the effort to make sure it didn’t happen again. We couldn’t have done it without our captains, Kristen Coulston and Amy Satkowiak. They are adjusting our drills and style of play to match each team we play, incorporating fitness, and implementing more advanced strategy every practice. Their dedication outside of practice to researching and planning is what’s led us to be the team we are today.”