August 2000: Atlantis Women win National
Invitational Sevens
Emil Signes
August 17, 2000
JUNE 20, 2013
Conshohocken, PA, August 12-13, 2000. A young
Atlantis side comprising 5 college players sneaked into the
championship of the second annual Philadelphia Women’s Sevens
Invitational on the foot of 20-year old Kelly Seary of
Radcliffe. Both Atlantis’ semifinals win over the West
Territorial Side and its championship victory over the Maryland
Stingers were by identical 7-5 scores. The final was a bit
of an upset, as Atlantis had lost 24-0 to Maryland on the first
day of play.
Atlantis
This year’s Atlantis team was largely a
developmental team, and comprised 5 collegiate players led by
veteran captains Heather Stevens and Linda Borgeson.
The Championship squad comprised:
Atlantis number, Name, (Club)
473 Linda Borgeson (Worcester), co-capt
326 Heather Stevens (Boston), co-capt
505 Helen Bateup (Penn State)
428 Dana Creager (NOVA)
507 Elisabeth de Fontenay (Princeton)
511 Mel Fiore (Washington)
512 Koma Gandy (San Diego)
480 Jenny Linker (U. Mass)
513 Kelly Seary (Radcliffe)
514 Donna Thomas (U. No. Colorado)
Atlantis was dealt a heavy blow early when, in the first half of
their first game, 20-year old Donna Thomas, one of the most
promising young rugby players in the country, went down with a
torn ACL.
Maryland Stingers
Despite the fact that Maryland boasts more sevens
Eagles than any other club, only one – retired Krista McFarren –
was available for this event. National Sevens Team
Captain Anita Pease and her broken radius were standing on the
sidelines in a cast and a coaching role. Retired Eagle Tracy
Moens, the West coach, was recruited by Maryland as a player and
did her usual outstanding job. Despite all their personnel
losses, however, Maryland came in to the tournament as one of the
favorites.
Championship Final
This game, as were so many – both men’s and women’s
– throughout the weekend, was a defensive struggle. Early in the
second half, Sarah Schooler exploited an over-zealous Atlantis
defense to score what seemed increasingly likely to be the only 5
points of the game. With no time left, however, referee
Grace Gavin penalized Maryland at a ruck. Dana Creager grabbed the
ball, and before anyone else could react, had run the 30 meters
for a centered try. With everyone’s eyes on her, Kelly
Seary, the youngest player on the field, calmly took the ball back
to her 22, and slotted her 9th drop kick conversion of the
weekend. The triple whistle ending the game followed
immediately.
Creager, with wing speed in a forward’s body, played exceptionally
well throughout the tournament, scoring 7 of Atlantis’ 16 tries,
and was named tournament MVP.
Atlantis
|
Pos
|
Maryland
|
Gandy
|
1
|
Schoppa
|
Stevens
|
2
|
Moens *
|
Creager (T)
|
3
|
Rayside
|
|
|
|
Borgeson
|
4
|
McFarren
|
Seary (C)
|
5
|
Etheridge
|
Linker
|
6
|
Jacobs
|
de Fontenay
|
7
|
Schooler (T)
|
|
|
* repl. by Keeler
|
National Invitation Sevens
Although women’s sevens has been played nearly as
long as women’s 15s, and although the US Sevens Eagles barely lost
to the New Zealand Black Ferns in Hong Kong this year, the women’s
sevens community is struggling to define a championship event that
will help develop the game. A proposed national All-Star
event was put off as premature, as was a club championship.
Last year’s invitational format was a great success, and drew more
than a dozen Eagles. Furthermore, of the 32 participants in the
2000 national sevens camp, more than 20 participated in the 1999
invitational event. This year, however, with increased
demands on top players’ times for 15s commitments, their number
was much lower. Nevertheless this was still, from top to bottom,
the most competitive sevens tournament in the US this summer.
What the future holds is not yet clear. If the US hopes to
defeat the Black Ferns, however, it will be very helpful for some
sort of “serious sevens weekend “ to be cultivated.
West Territorial Select. Despite the biggest
geographical problems of any territory, and despite its low
population density of rugby players, the West always has a
well-organized sevens program. This year’s Tracy Moens-coached
squad was selected at a formal camp and, featuring Eagles Yancy
Graf, Michelle Persica, and captain Julie McCoy, was a tournament
favorite along with Maryland.
Chicago North Shore. Whereas the West decided to pick
a territorial squad, the Midwest held a club championship.
This year’s champion was Chicago North Shore, coached by Mark
Santiago and led by Andrea Findlay, Christina West and Larysa
Santiago.
New York State Select. New York State picked an LAU side
based on July’s Empire State Games in Binghamton. This solid side
was coached by Mike Raffe and captained by Sue Scholl.
Tidewater Storm. Tidewater was led by US trialists
Dana Kuchta and Kam Kelly, and coached by Greg Robinette.
The Norfolk-based team was enhanced by the addition of several
players, including sevens Eagle Meg Madden.
The remainder of the tournament was filled out by local clubs:
Brandywine, the Maulie Maguires of Bethlehem (PA), Philadelphia,
and Philadelphia Combined, a mixed side assembled to replace New
York who cancelled at the last minute.
Pool Play
The pools, by order of pool play finish:
Maryland Stingers
Atlantis
New York State Select
Lehigh Valley Maulie Maguires
Philadelphia
West Territorial Select
Tidewater Storm
Philadelphia Combined
Chicago North Shore
Brandywine
Maryland and the West pretty much cruised through their divisions
with the West’s 24-5 victory over Tidewater being the closest game
for either champion. Likewise, Atlantis and Tidewater had no
real problems sewing up the second spot in each pool, although New
York State did hold Atlantis even for the first half of their
game.
Plate Championship
The Plate Championship was a tight 19-17
come-from-behind victory by New York State over Philadelphia
Combined behind 3 Allison Behrens tries.
Cup Semifinals
Semifinal 1: Atlantis 7 West 5. Atlantis
struggled with its offense all weekend, but its defense got better
with each game. Jen Linker scored for Atlantis in the first
half, and Kelly Seary converted. It looked like a 2nd half
Laura Hertel try would tie the game, but the conversion was
missed. The game was sealed when Mel Fiore, inserted into
the game with Atlantis one yard from its own goal, hauled down a
clutch lineout and Kelly Seary found a long touch.
Semifinal 2: Maryland 22 Tidewater 0. Maryland was able to
penetrate Tidewater’s tough defense and finally put them away, but
it wasn’t easy.
3rd place: West 14 Tidewater 0. It’s always hard to beat a
good team twice at the same event. The West managed to do it
with tries by Julie McCoy and Yancy Graf (both converted by Laura
Hertel), but it took them 13 minutes to get their first score
across. Yet another defensive battle so typical of the
weekend.
Thanks
A great vote of thanks goes to Stacy Foley who once
again organized and ran a great event (playing six games while
doing so), to omnipresent Allison Moore, President, and the entire
Philadelphia Women’s Rugby Club.