In January, HRFC Women’s Coach Scott Stratton and player Ali Tare coached the EPRU Women’s College All-Star Team to a 5th place finish at the NSCRO 7s tournament! Here is Coach Stratton’s recap of the tourney:
The ladies of the EPRU Women’s College All-Star team competed in St Petersburg Florida in the National Small College tournament the weekend of January 19th.
For the EPRU College 7’s All Stars this was their first gathering competitively into the 7’s tournament. The opening match was against the Cascades. From the opening whistle the EPRU players took control. Jadelyn Rivera (Widener) hit the long 5 meter line coming up short for a try but still running hard. It took a second for the team to re-gather themselves but stopped the Cascade attack. Off the next lineout Anika Blackman (Albright) hit the corner hard and went in for the first try. There continued to be some back and forth play with our ladies having first game hiccups. As we closed out the half Rose Wireman (Albright) sliced through the defense to score the second try of the match. Katie Andrews (Albright) hit her first conversion of the day. Players were set to continue the domination for the second half. Jadelyn Rivera caught the opening kickoff and went 60 meters for the try. With the teams spirts high Dionna Stockton (Albright) crashed through the middle to hit another try. As the match closed Jess Jones (Lehigh) caught a clean ball off the scrum and finished with a try. She followed with the conversion. Final score EPRU 29 Cascades 0.
The next match was against The South, last year’s Champions. The team knew this match would be difficult, the South’s experience and fluidness was difficult to defend. The South opened up the scoring at the 3 minute mark off a corner run and adding the conversion. EPRU would hit back up the side with Jen Palys (Widener) finishing in the middle for her first try. Kate Andrews added the conversion. Unfortunately for the ladies this would end the scoring against the South. Their experience would allow them to finish the match up 29- 7. EPRU had a number of chances and due to a few mistakes kept the match out of hand.
Finishing 1-1 in pool play put the EPRU ladies into the championship pool. Third match of the day gave the team Upstate New York, 3rd place team from the previous year. EPRU ladies started positive pressuring the NY squad early. A knock on by NY gave the red, white and blue a scrum in mid field. A clean win gave quick ball to Jess Jones (Lehigh) who cut through the defense to score first. A slight miscue by the EPRU team gave the ball to the NY team on the front foot giving up a try and conversion. With no time left in the half EPRU was awarded a scrum deep in their own end. Another clean win but this time the NY team would buckle down on defense and stop the attack. With a missed catch the NY team pounced on the ball and scored with time gone. As the second half kicked off the tired legs gave another try to the upstate team. 17 – 5 with little time left Dionna Stockton (Albright) smashed through the middle to bring the score closer, Jess Jones (Lehigh) made the conversion. As the time was closing in on the EPRU team another turnover off a lineout saw the ball slip to the NY team which ripped up the middle to close the match. EPRU 12 – USNY 24.
Day 2 put the EPRU team looking to win 5th place. First match of the day was a very good Lonestar team. EPRU pushed the ball back into the Lonestars end and played some very inspired defense. Unfortunately 4 offside penalties placed co-captain Jadelyn Rivera (Widener) into the sin bin with a yellow card. With two and a half minutes to go in the half it was not looking good for the team. However they young ladies pulled together and pitched a shutout to the Lonestar team. Refocused for the second half they hit the ground running. Anika Blackman had a great give and go move with Jen Palys (Widener) to then give a smart pass to Jadelyn Rivera (Widener) for the opening try. From that point the group pulled together and pressured the Texas ladies. Albright teammates linked together to produce the next try. Naadirah Moore gave the pass to speedy Anika Blackman who couldn’t be caught, Kate Andrews added the conversion. With the match closing out Kate Andrews (Albright) put the ball in the scrum then took it out and into the tryzone to finish the scoring. EPRU 17 – 0 Lonestar.
The EPRU ladies would need to beat a very tough Ohio team to take 5th place. The first half was a back and forth match showing the strength and speed of the Ohio team. The tight defense of the EPRU shut out Ohio in the first half. Prior to the end of the half Rose Wireman (Albright) hit the try line to put the team in front. Second half started on a positive note with Anika Blackman (Albright) scoring another try. Teammate Kate Andrews converted the try. The EPRU was leading 12 – 0 with less than 4 minutes to play. Unfortunately the penalty bug hit both teams. EPRU could not get their penalty play on the move. Allowing turnovers on the plays. Ohio punched in a try but missed the conversion. As the match came to a close the Ohio ladies had one last push off of another EPRU m=penalty. The Ohio wing hit the corner and then cut inside to find the line. Lucky for EPRU the conversion sailed wide. Final score EPRU 12 – 10 Ohio.
The team selected Jadelyn Rivera (Widener) as the MVP of the team. The coaches selected Anika Blackman (Albright) as their player. A very special thanks also to Rose Wireman (Albright) for the Iron Women award for playing extremely tough for every minute of the tournament. The ladies are grateful for everything they’ve learned the past few months and the generosity of the EPRU. Special thank you to Steamroller Rugby for the amazing kit. The coaching staff was extremely impressed with the growth and connectedness of these ladies in such a short amount of time. The team is looking forward to their shot at 1st next year! They will expand the numbers this spring after the EPRU 7’s Championship. Afterwards they will start a summer training program preparing for the 2020 championship.
