U-20 Women’s National Team Notch 87-0 Win in South Africa

from USA Rugby:

NELSPRUIT, South Africa – In the second match of its South African tour, the Under-20 Women’s National Team shut out the Mpumalanga Provincial Side 87-0 on Tuesday, June 24, at the Nelspruit Rugby Stadium.

Utilizing size and strength, the USA side took an early lead and never looked back in its game against the provincial team predominantly comprised of university students, scoring as early as the second minute when Rachel Sommer touched down the USA’s first try.

Before the close of the first half, the USA U-20s would score six more tries, with Seymira Salami completing a hat trick, including returning a kickoff to score, and Jozy Gessner, Catherine Parkhill and Mallory Ives each contributing a try a piece. Parkhill also converted three and chipped in a penalty kick to help put the U.S. securely at 44-0 heading into the break.

Salami and Parkhill were also key contributors to the USA’s second half scoring run, Salami adding 15 more points to her tally after the break and Parkhill kicking for six additional points before the end. The USA’s Kayla Morisoli, Tyra McGrady, Blaine Martin and Alisa Ly also notched a try each, while BriAnna Barto kicked for one conversion to bring the final score up to 87-0.

“The girls put together a strong performance and played really well today. After changing the way we handled the breakdown, our team was more aggressive than in the opening match against South Africa,” USA Under-20 Women’s Team Head Coach Bryn Chivers said. “We made some minor adjustments in practice leading up to today’s game and held a lot more possession as a result.”

“Parkhill and Salami each had big games but it’s hard to single out players – the whole team had a great game. They all set goals and were really focused on achieving those,” Chivers added.

The U-20 WNT will finish off its three-match tour on Saturday, June 28 with a rematch against the South Africa Under-20 Women’s National Team following a 23-12 loss on Saturday, June 21.

USA U20 Team vs. Mpumalanga Provincial Side
1 Joanna Kitlinski (Grand Valley State)
2 Tayo Mafe (Michigan State)
3 Rachel Sommer (West Linn, OR)
4 Mallory Ives (Colorado State)
5 Brittany Rose (West Chester East)
6 Alisa Ly (U of Minnesota)
7 Jozy Gessner (Summit, CO)
8 Alex Hartley (Brown)
9 Catherine Parkhill (Armstrong, MN)
10 Lauren Danielsen (Summit, CO)
11 Blaine Martin (Brown)
12 Lisa Henneman (C) (Seattle Women)
13 Kayla Morisoli (San Jose State)
14 Seymira Salami (State College, PA)
15 Tyra McGrady (Indiana)
16 Jay Marie Hill (Stanford)
17 Anneke Brand (Texas Tech)
18 Maggie Reidy (Divine Savior, WI)
19 Candace Barley (Maryville, TN)
20 Brittany Woodard (Hyde School, DC)
21 BriAnna Barto (Summit, CO)
22 Sadie Anderson (Fort Collins, CO)
23 Marie Timm (USMA)
24 Katie Johnson (Hopkins, MN)

USA 87
Tries: Salami 6, Sommer, Gessner, Parkhill, Ives, Morisoli, McGrady, Martin, Ly
Conversions: Parkhill 6, Barto
Penalty kicks: Parkhill

**USA U-20 Women’s National Team Game 1 vs South Africa, go here.

**USA U-20 Women’s National Team Game 3 vs South Africa, go here.

**Bryn Chivers gives an update on events, venues etc for upcoming U-20 WNT Events, go here.