Back in December 2024, the six Women’s Elite Rugby (WER) team coaches named their respective “foundational five” players who will set the tone for their teams and the professional 15s league. Part I took a quick look at the quintets from the (SF) Bay, Boston and Chicago teams, and part two reviews Denver, New York and Twin Cities. [lead photo c/o @therugbybreakdown]

DENVER

Denver is feeling pretty Denver. The foundational five are all former Colorado Gray Wolves and played massive roles in raising the 2024 Legacy Cup. Former Gray Wolves head coach Jamie Burke is now the WER Director of Rugby, and Sarah Chobot is happy to step in as WER Denver head coach. Chobot, like WER colleague Sylvia Braaten, is an Eagle alum and USA Women’s National Team (WNT) staff member.

DENVER FOUNDATIONAL FIVE
• Erica Coulibaly
• Rachel Ehrecke
• McKenzie Hawkins
• Maya Learned
• Tahna Wilfley

This quintet, like its counterparts, is a mix of veteran experience and next-generation looks. There are three USA 15s Eagles in flanker Rachel Ehrecke, flyhalf McKenzie Hawkins and prop Maya Learned. All three started playing rugby in high school and continued onto elite collegiate programs. Ehrecke is the pride of Iowa and distinguished herself at DIA Penn State. Hawkins started playing at Maryville, Tenn., before heading to now-DI NCAA Lindenwood University. And Learned is Colorado-bred, playing in Glendale during high school before signing with DI NCAA Harvard University.

Ehrecke (DMP Sharks) and Learned (Gloucester-Hartpury) both played in the now-named Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR), and Learned was part of the 2023 championship-winning team. The only other Americans to claim such heights were Alev Kelter (Saracens, 2022) and Lotte Sharp (Saracens, 2022, 2024). Together, the trio have 43 USA caps.

Coulibaly and Wilfley were the youngest players on the Gray Wolves’ 2024 championship team, but they played with poise and courage as starting wings. Originally from the Chicago area, Coulibaly terrorized the Big 10 while at the University of Iowa and debuted in the WPL in May 2024, a year after graduating. Coulibaly scored two tries in the Legacy Cup final and was named championship MVP. Wilfley was named Gray Wolves’ Rookie of the Year, another highlight in the teenager’s already stunning career. Having picked up the game well before high school, Wilfley forewent the local U18 competition for the best rugby available — the WPL — in 2024 and continues to augment that experience with overseas tours with EIRA and USA U18s (Related: Brave & Brilliant, U18s Shine in NZ).

NEW YORK

Four of New York’s foundational five have New York roots, and all five were part of Diego Maquieira’s first season in the WPL as NYRC’s head coach:

NEW YORK FOUNDATIONAL FIVE
• Adriana Castillo
• Misha Green-Yotts
• Matilda Kocaj
• Congetta “Jetta” Owens
• Jenn Salomon-Clayton

That said, this group has extensive experience outside of the state. Jenn Salomon-Clayton is the veteran. The Garnerville, N.Y., native played DI NCAA rugby at Quinnipiac University beginning in 2011, and upon graduation immediately joined the coach staff at DI NCAA Sacred Heart University. While captaining NYRC in the WPL, she talked about the importance of her players seeing their coaches in post-collegiate rugby environments. The center is also a mainstay of Rugby Mexico 7s and raised the profile of London Irish overseas. Today, she is the interim head coach at West Point Women’s Rugby, another DI NCAA program.

Matilda Kocaj is the youngest of the quintet and originally called Albania home before moving to New York. At Babson College (Mass.), her first rugby coach, Dave Meyer, marveled at how well Kocaj took to the sport, and stints with NYRC 7s and later Berkeley WPL (while studying at Babson’s San Francisco campus) aided her trajectory. The powerful back-three player flourished at Life University during grad school and was recognized as an MA Sorensen finalist. The 25-year-old is just so fun to watch.

Misha Green-Yotts was born in Queens and first attended SUNY Binghamton, where she found rugby, for a year before transferring to SUNY Plattsburgh in 2012 and playing varsity basketball. But rugby never left her heart and she featured on all-star teams like the NSCRO Selects at CRC 7s, which led to an unexpected spot on a USA South team at the 2017 RAN 10s tournament. That fall, she debuted in the WPL with NYRC and continued her all-star ways. Green-Yotts took time off to have a baby with partner Gael Yotts, also an NYRC alum, and returned as potent as ever to the loose forwards.

Adriana Castillo is from the Bronx and applied her volleyball athleticism to Marist College Women’s Rugby. After graduating from the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., school in 2018, the No. 8 joined DII Village Lions before switching to NYRC for next-level competition. She debuted in the WPL in spring 2022, the first season after covid. Castillo has flourished ever since and has represented the Dominican Republic Women’s National Team at two Rugby Americas North (RAN) events, in both 7s and 12s.

Congetta (“Jetta”) Owens hails from Columbia, Md., and the standout soccer player switched to rugby once at Virginia Tech. The fullback became a household name after the Hokies advanced to multiple CRAA 15s and 7s championships, and then got all the pieces to align for a spot in the Daily Training Environment bubbles in Colorado during covid. After graduating Tech in 2021, Owens headed north to NYRC and debuted in the WPL in spring 2022. The fullback is verve.

TWIN CITIES

All of the WER teams are based in big cities that attract talent from across the country and see players make those cities their new homes. For the Twin Cities’ foundational five, some of have traveled far and wide for their rugby, but they’re now returning home to Minnesota or staying relatively local in terms of the Midwest for the onset of the WER.

Twin Cities is looking like the youngest group relative to the rest of the WER, but there is a ton of leadership as well as international experience in the ranks. Chief among them is head coach Sylvia Braaten, who is a capped 7s and 15s Eagle, USA WNT S&C coach, former Harvard assistant coach and Zons alum.

TWIN CITIES FOUNDATIONAL FIVE
• Emerson Allen
• Marisa Hall
• Abbey Jacobs
• Katrina Nunes
• Tatyana Reed

Emerson Allen is the Eagle within this quintet. She found rugby after migrating from Minnesota to Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla. The lock and jumper transferred to Life University and absolutely flourished in the now-named DIA. After graduating in 2022, Allen was a HP resident with Rhinos in San Clemente, Calif., joined Life West in the WPL, and also got pro experience in PR 7s. In August 2024, Allen was rewarded for her rugby focus and became Eagle #326 during the USA vs. Japan series this past summer.

Katrina Nunes (née Anderson) is the veteran. The Oregonian headed east for college and found rugby at Univ. North Dakota in 2012-13. The flanker transferred to Univ. Wisconsin River Falls for the remainder of college and during her final two years served as captain, player-coach and flyhalf. Meanwhile, Nunes played up with the Minnesota and Midwest U23 teams and interacted with top-notch coaches and Zons alums Lynelle Kugler and Rebecca Radtke. She joined the Zons in fall 2018, overcame two ACL injuries, represented the Midwest Thunderbirds, and in 2024 served as WPL team captain.

Marisa Hall shares a couple of similarities with Allen and Nunes. She has Minnesota roots like Allen, and also battled back-to-back injuries like Nunes to become the force she is today. Unlike the aforementioned, Hall started playing rugby in high school (North Suburban, East Metro) and caught Lindenwood’s eye while representing Minnesota Tundra. Injury disrupted freshman and sophomore years in St. Charles, Mo., but the lock and flanker made her on-field mark during her final two years. “Marisa is all perseverance,” former Lindenwood coach Billy Nicholas said. As a Class of 2020 graduate, covid also disrupted plans, but she eventually found herself with Scion (7s) and NOVA (15s) for national championship experiences.

Abbey Jacobs and Tatyana Reed are the youngest of Twin Cities Foundational Five, and their playing careers intersected before arriving at the Amazons. Jacobs played college ball at Univ. Wisconsin Eau Claire and served as forwards captain when the Blugolds won their first-ever NCR DII National 15s Championship in fall 2022. The No. 8 also worked the Pathway, representing the Wisconsin and Midwest U23s select sides before being named to the USA U23 National Team for fixtures against Canada (2022) and Brazil and Colombia (2023).

Eau Claire is a DII team so there weren’t many opportunities to face DI Univ. Northern Iowa and Reed in 15s, but the 7s season allowed for some crossover, as did the Midwest U23 Thunderbirds. Reed, also a Class of 2023 grad, was the (smiling!) face of the Panther offense as a captain and flyhalf, and also had to overcome a knee injury before returning to top playing form. “Tot” debuted in the WPL in August 2023 alongside Jacobs and this year was nominated for the Kathy Flores Heart of the WPL Award.