The USA Women's Eagles Sevens are heading to Vancouver for the next stop of the HSBC SVNS Series.
The Women’s Sevens will be heading to our neighbors up north after experiencing an important growth tournament at the Perth SVNS, where they finished 2-3 with wins over Fiji and Great Britain. The fourth stop of the seven-part series will kick off Friday, Feb 21 at 5:44pm ET in Pool B culminating in the medal rounds Sunday, Feb 23. All action can be caught live on RugbyPass TV.
Paris 2024 Olympian, Spiff Sedrick returns as Co-Captain alongside Kristi Kirshe. Leading try scorer, Nia Toliver will sit out Vancouver for recovery. Central Washington XV star Tessa Hann makes her first USA Women’s Eagles Sevens squad and World Series debut. Head Coach, Emilie Bydwell commented,
“Perth was a crucial learning experience for our team. While we had success in the early pool rounds, the later games against Canada, France and Japan tested where we are as a group currently and gave us valuable information to review as a team when we got back to training in Chula Vista.
Heading into this next phase, we have emphasized defensive development, layering in our system approach on top of the technical emphasis around the track and the tackle that we’ve been building through the season. We looked specifically at how we can make better decisions, taking in both pressure and attacking pictures along with increasing our understanding of how we can be effective in transition. While our learning was focused on the defensive side, we did take the opportunity to look at our mindset around attack and deepen our understanding of the attitude that we want to have, and how we can be more threatening and dynamic as a unit.
We’re excited for the challenges ahead in Vancouver. Our pool games against China and Ireland will push us in different ways, and we’re eager to learn and grow from each of them. Then, on day two, we’ll have the opportunity to test ourselves against New Zealand, currently the top team in the world.
With this season being our foundational year of the quad, we are rotating the leadership duties to continue to build these skills with a wider range of players. Alena and Kayla did a fantastic job captaining the team through the first three tournaments and will continue to lead in their tactical roles. It’s exciting that we can now provide both Kirshe and Spiff with the opportunity to step into the job, both of them contributed significantly to developing the identity and culture that we have as a group and they now get a chance to lead from the front as we look to take another step forward in Vancouver.”
In Pool B, the USA will face off against China, Ireland and 2025 SVNS leading New Zealand in their hunt for the medal rounds, after making three straight quarterfinals so far this year. First up will be China, setting up the first fixture for these teams this year. Ireland will run out against the USA for match two, where the Irish are in need of a win as they sit just inside the top 8 standings, making for an exciting clash. In the Pool B finale, the USA meet series-leading New Zealand for an epic match up and rematch from the Cape Town Cup Final.
| Name | SVNS Tournaments |
|---|---|
| 1. Ariana Ramsey | 10 |
| 3. Kayla Canett | 32 |
| 6. Alena Olsen | 27 |
| 12. Kristi Kirshe (C) | 26 |
| 15. Rachel Strasdas | 4 |
| 16. Jessica Lu | 3 |
| 17. Spiff Sedrick (C) | 19 |
| 20. Autumn LoCicero | 3 |
| 24. Su Adegoke | 3 |
| 28. Sariah Ibarra | 3 |
| 30. Tessa Hann | Debut |
| 32. Alyssa Porter | 3 |
| 99. Autumn Czaplicki | 1 |
Emilie Bydwell | Head Coach
Zack Test | Assistant Coach
Trey Ford | Head of Athletic Performance
Nicole Titmas | Manager of Medical Services; Head Athletic Trainer
Liz Strohecker | Head of Operations – Sevens
Fri, Feb 21
USA vs China | 5:44pm ET
USA vs Ireland | 11:14pm ET
Sat, Feb 22
USA vs New Zealand | 5:24pm ET
Knockout rounds begin Sat, Feb 22 at 9:48pm ET
