November 1996: Atlantis Women at New York Sevens
(Atlantis tournament #52)
Emil Signes
December 6, 1996
JUNE 16, 2013
Note of 2013: I couldn't find anything in Rugby
on this tournament, then I found this little article, which
I probably wrote for my own benefit. It was in the form of a note to NY organizers John Truehard and
Drew Fautley, and also the Rugby Magazine editor,
Ed Hagerty.
Women’s bracket in New York:
Atlantis’ perspective
To: John Truehart, Drew Fautley, Ed Hagerty
This is to provide some information about our Atlantis teams and
their performance (I don’t have a program nor did I keep score --
I’m sure John and Drew can provide that info / John, it would be
nice to find out who X-Cons really did bring!).
Ed, I know I’m lucky if you use 10% of this, so I haven’t been too
anal about getting exact results . . .
Final: Atlantis II 50 (8
tries, 5 conversions); Guelph 0
This is the only photograph I have from
this tournament, sent to me years later. The file size is 18 kb, so there's not much
chance
of ever getting it to look any better than what you
see here:
Top: Emil Signes, Heather Heaton, Alex
Williams, Kerry McCabe, Jen Skoda, Ronnie Petzinger, Drew
Fautley
Bottom: Keirsten Lawton, Mary Beth Spirk, Lisa Rowe,
Alissa Wykes, Lisa Huff
Because this was still "early days" for Atlantis women, I have
included the players' Atlantis women's number as well as their overall number. Following this tournament there were so many Atlantis women's and
men's tournaments, and the two together,
that I don't feel a need to distinguish them in that way after this.
Atlantis II in final:
Atl. #
|
Pos.
|
Name
|
Club
|
Other
|
W #
|
332
|
1
|
Kerry Kilander McCabe
|
Beantown
|
USA
|
37
|
335
|
2
|
Lisa Rowe *
|
Maryland
|
USA
|
40
|
337
|
3
|
Alex Williams
|
Beantown
|
USA
|
42
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
170
|
4
|
Mary Beth Spirk * (capt)
|
Maulie Maguires (PA)
|
|
10
|
333
|
5
|
Keirsten Lawton *
|
Beantown
|
USA
|
38
|
334
|
6
|
Ronnie Petzinger *
|
Morris (NJ)
|
|
39
|
330
|
7
|
Heather Heaton *
|
Maryland
|
|
35
|
338
|
R
|
Alissa Wykes *
|
Philadelphia
|
|
43
|
336
|
R
|
Jen Skoda
|
Gotham
|
|
41
|
331
|
DNP
|
Lisa Huff
|
Philadelphia
|
|
36
|
* = participant in first-ever national 7s camp, Philadelphia, August
1996
The 10th player on our roster was Lisa Huff of Philadelphia, who
would have been in the game had we been allowed three
substitutions. (Note to John & Drew: new sevens laws mandate
that three substitutions be allowed, one of which may only be for
injury, the other two may be tactical. (Also, the scoring team
kicks off, which should have been rule at tournament. But I
digress. . . )
Atlantis women. Just as the Atlantis men’s program
continues to be a vehicle for bringing together experienced and
new players, so the Atlantis women’s program continues to expand
in the same way. In the process, we hope to bring the same
seriousness about, and dedication to, sevens that now exists in
segments of the men’s community.
Two Atlantis teams. Atlantis put together two teams that
were supposed to be of equivalent quality, although in retrospect,
it appears that putting together four Eagles on Atlantis II (as
compared to Atlantis I’s sole Eagle Candi Orsini) made the team
more solid than Atlantis I.
Emil Signes and Drew Fautley were the coaches, and
Liz Cass the manager.
Round Robin:
Atlantis 1 crushed their first round opponent, and
then ran into a Guelph team that they didn’t figure would be too
tough. Atlantis came out flat, however, and Guelph scored quickly
off a blown defensive assignment. Atlantis players each began to
think they had to do everything themselves, and too many
individual efforts led to turnovers, and another Guelph try (2?).
Atlantis I
Roster (won 1 lost 1)
Atl #
|
Name
|
Club
|
Other
|
W #
|
322
|
Nicole Carrier
|
Beantown |
|
27
|
323
|
Michele Friel
|
Beantown
|
|
28
|
324
|
Tracey Hayes
|
Austin
|
|
29
|
325
|
Maureen Henry
|
Philadelphia
|
|
30
|
287
|
Candi Orsini
|
At Large
|
USA
|
|
326
|
Heather Stephens
|
Hartford Roses
|
|
31
|
327
|
Joyce Weeg
|
Morris Pride (NJ)
|
|
32
|
328
|
Julie Williams
|
Morris Pride (NJ)
|
|
33
|
329
|
Kelly Williams
|
Monmouth
|
|
34
|
Atlantis II, meanwhile, struggled to a close 22-12 win over the
Ottawa Irish, before putting it together for a big win in the
second round.
The quarterfinal, however, was certainly the game that decided the
tournament. Canada’s Concordia’s X-Cons, buttresed by [John -- can
you find out if in fact there were several Canadian
internationals on this team] actually outplayed Atlantis II for
13.9 minutes and held a 10-7 lead with no time left and the ball
being mauled inside the Atlantis 22. Alex Williams grabbed the
ball, Kerry Kilander McCabe peeled off X-Con hands, and got the
ball to captain MB Spirk, who sidestepped a defender and got the
ball to hooker Lisa Rowe, who beat two defenders en route to an 80
meter try and a 14-10 Atlantis victory. (Internet score of 12-7 is
wrong.)
After that it was easy: Atlantis kept Hong Kong going backwards
for a big win, and went into the final
determined and on fire after being told of how the Guelph wing
stuck her tongue out at her opposite number during Guelph’s upset
of Atlantis I.
Heather Heaton began the scoring with a brilliant run up the right
sideline and Atlantis never looked back, cruising to a 50-0 win and a 5-0 record for the day.
Alex Williams deservedly won the tournament MVP. Unfortunately,
due to the unfunded nature of the first-ever Hong Kong Women’s
Invitational Sevens tournament, Alex will be among those
unavailable to represent the US. So much for professionalism.