Interim Head Coach Rich Ashfield announced today the traveling roster for the USA Women’s Eagles who will head to Ottawa for the second leg of the 2023 Pacific Four Series.
With a few shifts from the March squad in Spain, the roster of 30 includes familiar names as well as a few athletes who will have an opportunity to earn their first Eagles cap. Captain Kate Zackary leads the team into their final two Pacific Four Series matches, with the chance to earn her 30th cap, a feat only 11 Eagles have achieved so far. Tickets to the series are available at usa.rugby/tickets with both matches live streamed on FloRugby.
Three athletes join the squad with the hope of earning their first cap. Erica Jarrell, who plays for current Women’s Premier League leaders Beantown RFC, joins the Eagles as the first half of the WPL season comes to a close at the end of the month. Freda Tafuna and Taina Tukuafu join the senior squad after a successful showing with the Women’s U23s program during the Americas Rugby Trophy in Brazil.
The Eagles will get together in Ottawa at the beginning of July, along with 17 preparation camp invites. Four names from the U23s roster have also been included in the preparation invites. Focus will be on their two matches against Australia and New Zealand with the goal of earning a spot in WXV 1, where the top three of four teams will move to compete in New Zealand this fall.
In partnership with Mastercard, The World Rugby Pacific Four Series 2023 schedule optimizes and complements the existing women’s domestic and international competition calendars for 2023. The cross-regional, international competition also acts as one of the principal annual qualification routes for the top two tiers of WXV with the top three placed teams qualifying for WXV 1 and the fourth-placed team securing a place in WXV 2.
“We are excited to build on the work we started in Spain this past March. We are doing things a little differently with a preparation camp for a week leading into the Pacific Four Series competition. We hope this will help us build some momentum for what will be sure to be tough games against Australia and New Zealand.
We saw some great tenacity in the U23 tour to Brazil and we have five players from the U23s squad to bring some of that fight into the senior squad. Taina and Freda had great years at the collegiate level and stood out with the U23 in Brazil so we’re confident they can progress nicely onto the senior side. Erica Jarrell has been around the squad for a couple of years now and has really stood out this year with Beantown in the WPL so we’re looking forward to seeing how she can support the team.
We’re also happy to add Hallie Taufoou, Jennine Detiveaux, and Joanne Fa’avesi back into the mix. Their experience and leadership will really help the squad both on and off the field with a busy year ahead."
| Name | Club |
|---|---|
| Catherine Benson | Sale Sharks |
| Carly Waters | Sale Sharks |
| Bulou Mataitoga | Loughborough Lightning |
| Rachel Ehrecke | DMP Sharks |
| Olivia Ortiz | DMP Sharks |
| Hope Rogers | Exeter Chiefs |
| Rachel Johnson | Exeter Chiefs |
| Alycia Washington | Sale Sharks |
| Tahlia Brody | Cheltenham Tigers |
| Georgie Perris-Redding | Sale Sharks |
| Tess Feury | DMP Sharks |
| Hallie Taufoou | Beantown RFC |
| Erica Jarrell* | Beantown RFC |
| Kristin Bitter | Dartmouth College |
| Lotte Clapp | Saracens |
| Tiara A’au | New York Rugby Club |
| Taina Tukuafu* | Lindenwood University |
| Evelyn Ashenbrucker | San Diego Surfers |
| Summer Harris-Jones | USA Sevens |
| Jett Hayward | Life West |
| Kathryn Treder | DMP Sharks |
| Paluvava’u Freda Tafuna* | Lindenwood University |
| Emily Henrich | Dartmouth College |
| Eti Haungatau | Sale Sharks |
| Jennine Detiveaux | Knoxville Minx |
| Charli Jacoby | Exeter Chiefs |
| McKenzie Hawkins | Colorado Greywolves |
| Kate Zackary (C) | Exeter Chiefs |
| Joanne Fa’avesi | USA Sevens |
| Keia Mae Sagapolu | Central Washington University |
| Name | Club |
|---|---|
| Jenny Kronish | Harlequins |
| Meya Bizer | DMP Sharks |
| Paige Stathopoulos | Beantown RFC |
| Tiahna Padilla | Harvard University |
| Yeja Dunn | Beantown RFC |
| Sadie Schier | Dartmouth College |
| Sophia Pyrz | Rhinos |
| Olivia Bernadel-Huey | Berkeley All Blues |
| India Perris-Redding | Sale RFC |
| Nicole James | Sale Sharks |
| Caitlin Weigel | Colorado Greywolves |
| Emerson Allen | Railway Union |
| Kapoina Bailey | Lindenwood University |
| Olivia Woods | Eagle High School - Idaho |
| Reece Woods | Eagle High School - Idaho |
| Monalisa Tupou | EPA Lady Razorbacks |
| Su Adegoke | Life University |
Interim Head Coach | Richard Ashfield
Assistant Coach | Katie Dowty
Assistant Coach | Kate Daley
Strength & Conditioning | Sylvia Braaten
Head Athletic Trainer | Katherine Henry
Athletic Trainer | Ken Look
Analyst | Caitlin Singletary
Team Doctor | Chau Bui
Team Doctor | Rachel Sachs-Bourne
Team Manager | Tim Westwood
Team Manager | Tiffany Lopez
Assistant Coach/Consultant | Mouritz Botha
v. Canada | 17-50 (L)
Location: Madrid, Spain
v. Australia | 4:00pm ET
Location: Ottawa, Canada
v. New Zealand | 4:00pm ET
Location: Ottawa, Canada
