Top Seeds Prevail in Final Day of Women’s Club Playoffs

For Day 1 action go here.

from USA Rugby:

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