from USA Rugby:
PITTSBURGH – Milwaukee’s Divine Savior Holy Angels held off a late second half comeback from Ohio-based opponent Lakewood to win the 2009 USA Rugby National Guard Girls’ Under-19 Championship title when play concluded at Pittsburgh’s Founders Field today.
Both Midwest sides came out with their eyes locked firmly on the prize and executed strong defense. DSHA’s Sarah Chmielewski had the only points for either side in the first half, with a third-phase try inside the 19th minute to give the Wisconsin team a slight 7-0 edge heading into the second half.
After the break, Lakewood climbed back into the game, with a try from No. 8 Kourtney McNulty inside minute 45. The accurate conversion from Danielle Foster tied it up, 7-7. However, Lakewood hadn’t seen the last of DSHA fullback Chmielewski, who dotted down her second try of the day at 55 minutes. Less than five minutes later, Elise Miller crossed into the try zone to grow DSHA’s lead to 19-7.
Lakewood made a late surge when No. 8 McNulty notched her second try of the game to pull her team within five points as time wound down. However, Divine Savior Holy Angels cut short Lakewood’s persistence toward the try zone and held on to win their second consecutive USA Rugby U-19 title in a 19-14 final tally.
“Lakewood showed a lot of heart and came out strong; they made it very difficult for us for 80 minutes, but we came out and played our game,” Divine Savior Coach John Klein said after the victory. “Our team played for each other today. We will be losing about 10 seniors this year, but the team definitely showed that we have a lot of strong leadership within our underclassmen.”
DSHA’s Sarah Chmielewski, who was awarded the National Guard Girls’ Under-19 Championship MVP trophy following the match, was proud of the way her team managed the game versus Lakewood, despite the absence of team leader Kathryn Junius due to injury sustained in the earlier rounds: “Our team really stepped up after losing one of our captains. We took it to them today, got the ball out and used our wings on the outside.”
In the day’s earlier matches, West Carroll (Md.) held off Rutland (Vt.), 10-7, to take home 7th place and Summit High School (Colo.) claimed 5th in its match against Fullerton. The Sacramento Amazons powered past Maryville (Tenn.) and sailed on to a 56-0 victory in the battle for third place.
A highlight show featuring the hard-hitting action from the full weekend of High School and Under-19 competition will be shown on ESPNU on June 8, at 7 PM (ET).
For more information on the USA Rugby National Guard High School and Under-19 Championships and the National Championships series, please visit www.usarugby.org/goto/championships.
Day 3 Results
7th/8th – West Carroll 10, Rutland 7
5th/ 6th – Summit 3, Fullerton Youth Rugby 0
3rd/ 4th – Sacramento Amazons 56, Maryville 0
Championship – Divine Savior Holy Angels 19, Lakewood 14
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This was not the championship game. The real championship game was in the first round. DVHS vs. Summit High School. 8th seed against 1st seed. Now that was truely the championship game, and the most exciting game all weekend. Lakewood is a strong team, and kept DVHS on their toes. But this Summit team from Colorado had DVHS on the run with a 10-8 finish. It was a heartbreaker to see Summit come up sort, they were truely the beter team. But congrats to DVHS for winning, they erned it.
I have to say — it was great to see Summit represented at the National Championship — it hearkens back to the first ever attempt to bring high school girls teams together on a national level — where DSHA and Summit met in the “finals” of a side-tournament to the Boys’ National Tournament. I think that was 1998 or 1999. That was a close match too — but Summit bested DSHA that day.
Ok rugby fans tell me what you think. The Fullerton Lady Lions were beat 46-5 by Sacramento then came back that afternoon and beat Rutland 34-0. On Sunday they played Summit to a tie after regulation and it came down to kicks and lost 3-0. Should a rugby National Championship Tournament game be decided by kicks? DVHS are the Champions but The Fullerton Lady Lions finished as strong as any of the other top five teams. ANONYMOUS, you can ask your Summit coach who won the match between Fullerton and Summit and he would tell you THE FULLERTON LADY LIONS were the best team on the pitch that day…FULLERTON LADY LIONS ROARRRR….CORINA KICKED BUTT…