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Four teams are 1-1 after Week 2 of the Women’s Elite Rugby (WER) season. The Bay Area, Denver and Chicago all banked wins, and the Tempest’s four-point victory against Boston marks the team’s first victory in the pro league. Stay tuned for an interview with Chicago head coach Kristin Zdanczewicz. [lead photo: David Hughes @davidhughesphoto]
Story of the weekend occurred at Benedictine University in Lisle, Ill., where the Chicago Tempest (1-1) earned its first-ever WER win 36-32 against the Boston Banshees (1-1). It was a massive victory for the home side, which had rebounded from a humbling first-round loss to the TC Gemini.
Tempest scored first through Conway Morrissey, and Nicole Fisch hit the first of three conversions. Boston then surged through the middle of first half, resulting in tries from Nicolette Pantor, Jenny Kronish, PK Vincze and Lauryn Carlton. Lauren Kuffel kicked a conversion for the 22-7 lead.
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The Tempest halted the scoring streak with an Emily Krahn try and Fisch converted before Carlton dotted down a second score for the Banshees (27-14). Colleen Murphy, Katie Lohaus, Gracie Anderson and Nicoleta Mesina all scored in just over 20 minutes, and a Fisch conversion pushed the home side ahead 36-27.
Current Coast Guard cadet Kate Boggs scored the final try of the game for Boston with approximately 12 minutes remaining, but the Tempest held on for the 36-32 win. The Banshees did pick up two bonus points for four-plus tries and fewer-than-seven-point loss.
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The first game of the weekend occurred in Mount Vernon, N.Y., in partly rainy conditions (LINK TO PICS). Bay Area was coming off a week-one win against WER reigning champion Denver and rolled that momentum into the road trip against the New York Exiles (0-2).
The Californian side took a 24-7 halftime lead as Jade McGrath, Nyah Cordero, Kristen Siano and Olivia Bernadel-Huey dotted down tries. Bernadel-Huey also kicked two of three conversions. New York got on the board through a Misha Green-Yotts try and Jetta Owens added the extras.
The Breakers ran in another three tries in the second half through Miri Marawa (2) and Paris Hart, while the Exiles sent reserve Mahdia Parker into the try zone near the third-quarter mark, 46-12 the final.
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The weekend ended in Denver (1-1), where the Onyx overcame a halftime deficit to beat the TC Gemini (1-1) 54-29. The Minnesota squad earned a bonus point for four-plus tries in the loss.
The visitors outpaced the home side in the first half, taking a 24-21 halftime lead through captain Brogan Mior, Melisa Rios Mena, Sophie Pyrz and Abbey Jacobs tries and two Chloe Headland (2) conversions.
The Onyx, however, applied even pressure in both halves and kept logging points in the second 40. All told, Madison Sheveland, Nicole Kimball, Makayla Wilkins (2), Sadie Schier, Saher Hamdan, Soraia Parr and Evie Oglesby scored tries, while Aly Cunningham kicked seven conversions to lead all point scorers. Rios Mena scored a second try for the Gemini, accounting for the team’s lone second-half points.
WEEK THREE
There is one game on Saturday and two games on Sunday during week 3. Denver Onyx travels to the Boston Banshees for a 5 p.m. ET kickoff on May 16. And then Chicago heads to New York for a 2 p.m. ET kickoff on May 17. The weekend ends with the Bay Breakers at TC Gemini at 5 p.m. CT.