June 5, 2010: Atlantis-NRU Women 1-2-3 in Lehigh Valley Sevens

Emil Signes
JUNE 29, 2013 (rev. 6/28/2019 @ 13:50)

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Note of June 2019: I found this partially written document in the "Lost Luggage"part of my filing ¿system? This was a great tournament team, and it was fun working with both MB and Chris. Among us we could have fielded separate Atlantis and NRU squads, but decided to combine the player pool and call the team "Atlantis-NRU." We worked hard to get players for this team and the effort was remarkably successful. Often the hardest work is that which is done up front. MB, Chris and I had fun working together. All 3 squads made it to the semifinals (they were 9-0 against non-Atlantis teams) and the final was incredibly intense and exciting. Great stuff!

Atlantis-NRU Gray, Teal and White at 2010 Lehigh Valley Sevens

Squad 184: Gray, Top L to R: Mary Beth Spirk (coach), Danielle Mortorano, Kate Fillion, Shannon O'Leary, Katie Dowty, Rebecca Brafman ///

Gray, Bottom L to R: Kathleen Ryan, Emily Smith, Colleen Benack, Joanne Ward
Squad 183: Teal, Top L to R: Laura Bilazarian, Dana Wasserman, Ida Bernstein, Emil Signes (coach), Laura London, Alison Worman ///
Teal, Bottom L to R: Hillary Keating, Dominique Bunai, Karen Serianni, Leigh Thierfelder
Squad 185: White Top L to R: Ellie Karvoski, Nicole Humphrey, Jamie-Lee Nix, Jackie Finlan, Rashida Stamps, Chris Ryan (coach) ///
White, Bottom L to R: Devan Owsiani, Lauren Rosso, April Cornell, Audrey Dineiro, Rosalie Macgowan (injured & ass’t coach)

Note of June 2019: Finally gone back to piece together this effort... I think I've tracked down the names of the players in the pictures and therefore by squad... It was a fun endeavor!

Preparation

Chris brought in several tried and true NRU players and I invited several Atlantis veterans; between us we invited several up and coming players that we had spotted or heard about. We had seen three of them perform really well for Hamilton College vs. Princeton at the Beast of the East tournament in Rhode Island in April; I thought they'd do great and we invited them. The result was three phenomenal squads, with not a single player more than a 5-hour drive from Bethlehem.

Note of June 2019: Mary Beth Spirk is a local treasure... As coach of Bethlehem's Moravian College Women's Basketball, as of now her teams have racked up 579 wins, 9th among active D3 coaches, and 19th all-time (her achievements include a national D3 hoops championship); for decades now, Heide and I have enjoyed going to several Moravian games each season. Mary Beth is also Atlantis player number 170 (and staff number 31, having taken several Atlantis women's teams on tour: to Kinsale, Ireland, Madrid Spain and Amsterdam, Netherlands, as well as working with me on numerous occasions - e.g. New York, Toronto, others).

I got Mary Beth on board, and, as usual, we had a 6 PM Friday practice in Bethlehem for those that could make it, about half the squad. MB, Chris and I then picked squads that we hoped would be even (by picking one apiece one at a time). I asked for the teal jerseys (they were the heaviest of the three, but ... tradition demanded it!)

@ the Signes House: Paella & Sangria

I've had Atlantis teams play in the Bethlehem Sevens for many years, and always volunteer to put up as many players (as possible) that come in Friday night (and those that would like to stay Saturday night as well). Heide traditionally makes a great Valencian paella with a bit of (appropriately weak) sangria as well (nice how this German lady has adapted to a Spanish-American family - though her preparation for this endeavor was enhanced by having lived 4 years in Madrid as a youngster). We put up about a dozen people in our house, with others housed elsewhere with rugby people in town.

1-2-3

We knew the only team that could beat us was ourselves, and the good thing is we knew at some point we would be playing ourselves, so we had great competition to look forward to.

In the end, Teal beat both other Atlantis teams to win the championship.

Our Rosters (Atlantis Number, Rookie?*, Name, Club)
Rookies indicated with an "R" and in teal

Atlantis Gray (Won 2 Lost 2)
Coach: Mary Beth Spirk

Atlantis #	Rookie?	First Name	Last Name	Club
854	R	Colleen	Benack
629		Rebecca	Brafman	New York
777		Katie	Dowty	Beantown
858	R	Kate	Fillion	Hamilton College
862	R	Danielle	Mortorano	Hamilton College
864	R	Shannon	O'Leary
867	R	Kathleen	Ryan	New York
869	R	Emily	Smith	New York
593		Joanne	Ward	Albany

Atlantis Teal (Won 5 Lost 0)
Coach: Emil Signes

Atlantis #	Rookie?	First Name	Last Name	Club
793		Ida	Bernstein	Keystone
772		Laura	Bilazarian	New York
855		Dominique	Bunai
824		Laura	London	New York
868	R	Karen	Serianni Backenstose	Keystone
871	R	Leigh	Thierfelder	Keystone
639		Dana	Wasserman
730		Alison	Worman	Keystone
861	R	Hillary	Keating	Hamilton College

Atlantis White (Won 4 Lost 1)
Coaches: Chris Ryan and Rosalie Macgowan (injured)

Atlantis #	Rookie?	First Name	Last Name	Club
866	R	Lauren	Rosso	Keystone
856	R	April	Cornell	New York
857	R	Audrey	Dineiro
859	R	Jackie	Finlan	Village Lions
860	R	Nicole	Humphrey	New York
546		Ellie	Karvoski	New York
863	R	Jamie-Lee	Nix
865	R	Deven	Owsiany	Penn State
870	R	Rashida	Stamps	Keystone

2019: Here are the results. After 9 years, I despair of finding any of my ubiquitous notebooks with individual scoring (though, knowing myself, one probably exists in the form of a needle, in a haystack... I'm sure there was some prolific individual scoring: if I recall correctly, Ida Bernstein was running wild.

Squad 184: Atlantis Gray Results (2-2)

Game	Type	Opponent	WLT	PF	PA
1	Round Robin	Philadelphia	W	17	5
2	Round Robin	Maulie Maguires 1	W	36	12
3	Round Robin	Atlantis White	L	0	19
4	Semifinal	Atlantis Teal	L	7	37
		Total	2-2	60	73

Squad 183: Atlantis Teal Results (5-0)

Game	Type	Opponent	WLT	PF	PA
1	Round Robin	Maulie Maguires 2	W	39	0
2	Round Robin	Lancaster	W	53	0
3	Round Robin	Harrisburg	W	42	0
4	Semifinal	Atlantis Gray	W	37	7
5	Final	Atlantis White	W	29	7
	Champion	Total	5-0	200	14

Squad 185: Atlantis White Results (4-1)

Game	Type	Opponent	WLT	PF	PA
1	Round Robin	Maulie Maguires 1	W	55	0
2	Round Robin	Philadelphia	W	20	7
3	Round Robin	Atlantis Gray	W	19	0
4	Semifinal	Maulies 2 Enhanced **	W	26	19
5	Final	Atlantis Teal	L	7	29
		Total	4-1	127	55

** 2019 footnote. An explanation of the "Maulies 2 Enhanced" squad description in the semifinal. Because all the Atlantis squads were winning by such big scores, with the permission of the Maulies (the Maulie Maguires - a term still commonly used for Lehigh Valley Rugby's women's team -, the tourney organizers as well as our scheduled opponents), we put together what was actually an All-Star team composed of many of the top players whose teams had been knocked out in the pool rounds. It nearly came back to bite us, as it was quite a close game.

But as William Shakespeare said (c. 1598-1608), all's well that ends well.

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