Congratulations to the women of Glendale and Austin Valkyries!
Both teams made it through the first-round of the Women’s Club Championships – Glendale defeated Norcal Triple Threat 20-0, and the Austin Valkyries defeated Belmont Shore (SoCal) 7-5. Unfortunately, both were defeated in their Sunday match (against teams that didn’t play Saturday – strange format!). The San Diego Surfers topped the Austin Valkyries 39-0, while Seattle Breakers defeated Glendale 20-3.
These are great performances, and much credit goes to both teams! Well done!!
Bill Sexton
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—– Original Message —–
For Immediate Release
October 25, 2009
Top Seeds Prevail in Final Day of Women’s Club Playoffs
ACTON, Mass. – Following day two of competition at NARA Park, the top
four seeded teams still remain in the hunt for the Women’s Club
Championship title.
Northern Virginia (NOVA), the San Diego Surfers, the Atlanta
Harlequins and the Seattle Breakers will have two weeks to prepare for
the Championship weekend set to be held Nov. 6-8 on Treasure Island in
San Francisco.
NOVA was the first team to qualify, following an evenly matched game
versus hosts Boston. Both teams put up aggressive defensive showings
in the first half, holding the score to just 5-0 in NOVA’s favor at
the break.
Northern Virginia’s Stacy Bennett touched down her second try of the
day inside minute 54 and less than 10 minutes later, winger Lauren
Hoeck snuck into the corner to give NOVA an added boost to 15-0.
The host team did not back down and eventually battled its way down
the field and launched a comeback at minute 69 with a try from Caitlin
O’Leary, which narrowed the gap to 10 points.
However, time was not on their side, and when the final whistle
sounded, the tally stuck at 15-5, booking NOVA’s ticket to San
Francisco for a semifinal meeting versus the Seattle Breakers.
“I thought Boston played extremely well, they came out and played hard
the whole 80 minutes. We’ve faced them during the regular season and
one of their notable traits is that they never ever give in and they
did a great job of pushing us today,” NOVA Coach Scott Delaney said.
“We’re thrilled to advance to the semifinals after this hard fought
match. Not only did Boston play well, they hosted a terrific
tournament and it was great across the board.”
Seattle continued its road to the finals with a 20-3 victory over the
Glendale Lady Raptors on Sunday afternoon. The Breakers got on the
board first with a penalty kick by Kasha Roseta, but just more than
five minutes later the Raptors’ Karla Leopold had evened the score at
3-3.
While Glendale defended well, Seattle continued on the attack and
broke through once before the break and had a slight edge, 10-3,
heading into the second half. Neither team got the ball to drop in
their favor until midway through the half, when Seattle No. 8 Tonia
Winchester dotted down and flyhalf Mari Therrien sealed her team’s
fate with the game’s final try at 74 minutes.
Also moving on to the semifinal round in San Francisco are the Atlanta
Harlequins, after handing Philadelphia a 17-5 defeat. Following a
tough match versus Detroit on Saturday, Philly entered the match ready
to face the new challenge posed by the tournament’s No. 3 seed and
struck early, with Katy Black touching down inside minute 12.
In an aggressive first half, Atlanta had the last word, with a try
from Carly Harrington in minute 30. Flyhalf Heather Hale’s conversion
boosted the Harlequins ahead, 7-5 before switching sides.
Strong defensive play from Philly in the second half kept Atlanta from
the tryzone until the 50th minute, with prop Erin Diehl pushing
through and Hale again converting. Hale’s precise boot was tested once
more when she successfully footed a penalty kick from more than 40
meters out to earn Atlanta the win.
Atlanta will face the No. 2 seeded San Diego Surfers in the semifinals
in San Francisco.
“This was our game today – we put all the pieces together and played
15-player rugby. We’ve had some setbacks during the season, but today
the team pulled together a full 80-minutes and we played our tails
off,” Atlanta Coach Patty Jervey said. “We’re really excited to travel
to California and look forward to playing San Diego – I think they
have a similar style to ours so it should make for an exciting match
up. “
The San Diego Surfers shut out the Austin Valkyries 39-0 to earn their
spot in the semis. Surfers wing Casey Field led the team’s scoring
charge with two tries, while center Daralisa Cheung had nine points (1
try, 2 conv). Rebecca Williams, Audrey Johnson, Amanda Wilson and
Alyssa Barker scored a try each in the win.
In the consolation matches earlier in the day, NorCal Triple Threat
defeated Chicago North Shore 10-7 and Belmont Shore shut out Detroit
22-0.
For more information on the USA Rugby Women’s Club Championships,
visit www.usarugby.org/goto/championships.
DAY 2 RESULTS – Sunday, Oct. 25?
NorCal Triple Threat 10, Chicago North Shore 7 (Consolation)
Belmont Shore 22, Detroit 0 (Consolation)
NOVA 15, Boston 5
San Diego Surfers 39, Austin Valkyries 0
Atlanta 17, Philadelphia 5
Seattle Breakers 20, Glendale 3
DAY 1 RESULTS – Saturday, Oct. 24
Boston 15, Chicago North Shore?3
Philadelphia 10, Detroit 5?
Glendale 20, NorCal Triple Threat 0
Austin Valkyries 7, Belmont Shore 5