Wayne State College Win Inaugural NSCRO Women’s 7s
Written by Bryn Chivers, NSCRO Women’s 7s Commissioner
NSCRO Women’s 7s National Championship
Grand Valley State University
Allendale, Michigan
May 3-4, 2014
An exciting weekend of rugby saw Wayne State College (Nebraska) add the NSCRO Women’s 7s National Championship title to the 15’s National Championship they won this past November.
Saturday
Pool A
South Dakota State looked impressive in their first game with a 29-0 win over Mount St. Mary’s College (Maryland). The second game of the day saw Millersville University (Pennsylvania) and Mount St. Mary’s battling it out in a closely contested game, with Millersville winning 12-5. The final game of the pool pitted Millersville against SDSU. The SDSU defense were able to contain the Millersville offense while making the most of their own attacking opportunities, and this resulted in SDSU winning 24-0
Pool B
In the other side of the brackets Albright College (Pennsylvania) opened the day with a hard fought 12-5 win over Tiffin University (Ohio). Next up they faced a Wayne side who showed why they are the reigning 15’s National Champions. Wayne were able to control the game from the outset and ran out winners by a score of 29-0. In the final game of the pool, Tiffin were unlucky to meet a Wayne team beginning to hit their stride and the final score was 36-0 to Wayne,
Crossover
The crossover games pitted the second place teams in both pools against the third place teams in the opposite pool. Mount St Mary bounced back from their losses in pool play to defeat Albright 27-10. In the other game Tiffin produced a surprise 12-10 win over Millersville to also advance to the semi finals.
At the end of the first day it was Wayne State and South Dakota State who were looking like the teams to beat. Both teams had gone undefeated without conceding a point, but all of the other teams had recorded a win, and had showed that upsets were possible.
Sunday
Semifinals
The first semifinal was a repeat of the first game of tournament with Mount St. Mary’s again taking on SDSU. Mount St Mary’s came out with increased intensity and the early breakdowns were hotly contested. The SDSU continued to blitz the Mount St.Mary’s offense and this not only limited opportunities for the offense but also resulted in turnovers. A combination of capitalizing on turnovers and an ability to offload out of the contact area resulted in SDSU winning 24-0
In the second semifinal Wayne again came out on top against Tiffin by a score of 22-0. While Tiffin continued to improve though out the tournament they struggled to contain a Wayne side who could draw upon the experience gained from competing in previous National Championships.
5th/6th Place Game.
in their previous games Millersville had looked like a very talented team who were yet to put all the pieces together. In the game to decide 5th and 6th they were able to get on the front foot and this resulted in them running out to a big 44-5 win over Albright.
3rd/4th Place Game
Mount St. Mary’s took the third place trophy with a win over Tiffin. Both teams struggled with the windy conditions and the game was plagued knock ons and forward passes. While Tiffin attempted to attack up the middle it was the Mount St. Mary’s outside game that prevailed, with all of their success coming from long runs down the wing. Final score was Mount St. Mary 17 Tiffin 0
Championship Game.
Wayne State and South Dakota State entered the final with nearly identical scoring numbers of 87-0 and 84-0 respectively. Both teams were familiar with each others style as they play each other regularly. The schools are only 170 miles apart and that’s considered a neighboring team out in Nebraska and South Dakota.
From the whistle Wayne forced SDSU and forced them back inside their own 22m. Sustained pressure saw Wayne steal a scrum 10m from the SDSU goal line and a switch of direction saw them go under the posts for the first score of the game. The try was converted to give Wayne a 7-0 lead. SDSU came back to put together three minutes of sustained pressure before a turnover and missed tackle saw Caitlin Hollinger shoot through the middle of the defense and go 70 meters for the score under the posts. She converted her own try and took Wayne out to a 14-0 lead at the half.
Wayne scored from the second half kickoff with Caitlin Hollinger getting her second try of the game. The rest of the half saw possession shared evenly between both teams. SDSU put together a series of attacks that resulted in a strong run through the middle of the Wayne defense for a try. The conversion was made to take the score to 19-7. Both teams made substitutions as the half wound down and on the last play of the game Wayne went over for a fourth try to make the final score Wayne 22 – South Dakota State 7.
Most Valuable Player
Caitlin Hollinger of Wayne State won the the Tournament MVP award. Caitlin was the top try scorer and top points scorer for the tournament
All Tournament Team
Seven players were selected for the 2014 NSCRO Women’s 7s National Championship All Tournament Team. All of the players received NSCRO medals.
Essence Bell – Tiffin
Charlotte Caniglia – Wayne State
Mary Helfer – South Dakota State
Caitlin Hollinger – Wayne State
Megan McGuigan – Millersville
Morgan Myers – South Dakota State
Meghan Reed – Mount St. Mary’s
Streaming Video
All matches on the Championship Field were made available to the public via free live streaming via Youtube. Live streaming was provided by Jesse Miller. All games can be seen by following the links below.
Saturday – https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Sunday – https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The broadcasts were watched live by people in 22 countries in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.
Summary of All Scores
Saturday
Pool A
SDSU 29 – Mt. St. Mary’s 0
Millersville 12 – Mt. St Marys 5
SDSU 31 – Millersville 0
Pool B
Albright 10 -Tiffin 5
Wayne 29 – Albright 0
Wayne 36 – Tiffin 0
Crossover Round
Tiffin 12 – Millersville 10
Mt. St. Mary’s 27 – Albright 10
Sunday
Semi Finals
SDSU 24 – Mt. St. Mary’s 0
Wayne 22 Tiffin 0
5th/6th
Millersville 44 – Albright 5
3rd/4th
Mount St Mary’s 17 – Tiffin 0
Final
Wayne State 24 – South Dakota State 7
