Back on the podium, the USA Women’s Eagles Sevens closed out the HSBC SVNS World Championships in Valladolid, Spain in style with a 2nd place finish in final against Australia.
Bouncing forward from Hong Kong’s 5th place finish, the USA Women’s Eagles Sevens squad bounced forward from 5th in Hong Kong’s to take silver after a high octane battle with Canada in the Semi Final.
Head Coach Emilie Bydwell commented on the team’s performance;
“This weekend was really special for us. We weren't happy with Hong Kong, not so much about the outcome, but just in terms of playing the way that we want to play. So when we go home, we really leaned into the work and intensity in the training block to then deliver the performance we wanted to deliver on the field.”
“This weekend, we had the goal of topping our pool, and we had a stumble on that a little bit in the Fiji game, but even just that Fiji game, knowing that we needed to score, knowing they needed a bonus point, the players stuck in, they gritted for it, they got us that point. And then from there, it was just about every time we played, how can we continue to evolve? Can we continue to compete? and play to our identity, and get 5% better every game? And I think, we really saw that across the weekend. We're really proud of that.
“We fell short, obviously, in the final. And there were still some good things in there, but that's something that we'll work on. We'rll take what we can from this weekend. We've got to win, and then we’ll reset, and load back up for next weekend.”
Coming in as a top seed from their third place standing on the SVNS Series circuit, the USA Women kicked off against Fiji in Pool B for their opening match. The Fijians opened with a try which the Eagles fought back to deliver under the posts with speed from Ariana Ramsey, soon followed by Sammy Sullivan powering across just before the half putting the Eagles up 12-7. The Fijians restarted with a statement securing three subsequent tries before Captain Kristi Kirshe responded with the USA’s third and returning Olympic veteran Kayla Canett slotting the conversion but not leaving enough time to overtake the Fijians. Sereana Vulaono made her USA Eagles debut.
Next up, the USA held a dominant match over the South Africans scoring first with consecutive tries from Kaylen Thomas and Su Adegoke. The South Africans countered with two of their own, but Thomas ran away again for the USA’s third, with Ramsey following up to secure a 26-12 victory.
Closing out pool play, the USA Eagles were primed to take on Australia and Thomas delivered first with the Wallaroos leveling at the half. Sariah Ibarra took the offload and delivered first on the restart while sealing the conversion which would prove to be crucial as the USA took the win 14-10 despite a subsequent Australian try.
USA Women got a second chance with Fiji in the Quarter Final. Kirshe received on kick off runs down the ball bringing it close to the line before the team offloads and eventually sets up Rachel Strasdas to get the ball down on the wing and cement the first try. Ramsey finds space and runs in a second before Su Adegoke adds another. Fiji found space to run down the wing and dot down under the posts, following up with a subsequent try to bring them back in contention 21-14 at half time. But the USA veterans took the second half into their own hands with tries from Kirshe, Sullivan, and Sedrick closing out the Fijians 40-12 to earn their spot in the Semi Final.
In the Cup Sem-final against North American rivals, Canada opened with intensity taking two tries and conceding none to the USA in the first half leaving the Eagles with work to do at 0-12. But in her debut tournament, Sereana Vulaona took her chance and dotted down right under the posts. Thomas followed up with Canett clinching both conversions adding the points needed to take the win 14-12 over the Canadians and advance to the Finals for their first time in the series.
Australia opened hard and fast taking three consecutive tries before Ramsey reacted and ran a try in to bring the Eagles back in ahead of the half. Australia take the run on the blind side of the base of the scrum to secure the Wallaroos 4th try. Erica Coulibaly followed up to secure another for the USA Eagles but the Australians sealed the match.
The USA Women’s Eagles Sevens travel to Bordeaux, France to get set for their final stop of the season this weekend kicking off June 5th-7th. All matches will be streamed live on Paramount+. Fans can also follow along the journey on the USA Eagles new dedicated instagram account @USAEagles7s
| Player # | Player | Sevens Caps |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ariana Ramsey | 22 |
| 2 | Erica Coulibaly | 7 |
| 3 | Tahna Wifley | 8 |
| 8 | Spiff Sedrick | 26 |
| 9 | Cass Bargell | 1 |
| 12 | Kristi Kirshe (C) | 38 |
| 15 | Rachel Strasdas | 15 |
| 19 | Kaylen Thomas | 12 |
| 22 | Sammy Sullivan | 23 |
| 24 | Su Adegoke | 14 |
| 7 | Kayla Canett | 37 |
| 28 | Sariah Ibarra | 14 |
| 14 | Sereana Vulaono | 1 |
| 99 | Autumn Czaplicki | 10 |
USA v Fiji (L) 19-26
Tries: Ariana Ramsey, Sammy Sullivan, Kristi Kirshe
Conv: Sariah Ibarra, Kayla Canett
USA v South Africa (W) 26-12
Tries: Kaylen Thomas (2), Su Adegoke, Ariana Ramsey
Conv: Sariah Ibarra (2), Kayla Canett
USA v Australia (W) 14-10
Tries: Kaylen Thomas, Sariah Ibarra
Conv: Sariah Ibarra (2)
Quarter Final | USA v Fiji (W) 40-12
Tries: Rachel Strasdas, Ariana Ramsey, Su Adegoke, Kristi Kirshe, Sammy Sullivan, Spiff Sedrick
Conv: Sariah Ibarra (3), Kayla Canett (2)
Semi Final | USA v Canada (W) 14-12
Tries: Sereana Vulaono, Kaylen Thomas
Conv: Kayla Canett (2)
Final | USA v Australia (L) 27-14
Tries: Ariana Ramsey, Erica Coulibaly
Conv: Sariah Ibarra, Tahna Wilfley
April 17 - 19 | Hong Kong - 5th
May 29 -31 | Valladolid - 2nd
June 5 - 7 | Bordeaux
November 29 - 30 | Dubai - 5th Place
December 6 - 7 | Cape Town - 4th Place
January 31 - February 1 | Singapore - 4th Place
February 7 - 8 | Perth - 4th Place
March 7 - 8 | Vancouver - 3rd Pace
March 14 - 15 | NYC - 3rd Place
Emilie Bydwell | Head Coach
Tony Roques | Assistant Coach
Charlie Purdon | Technical & IDP Skills Coach
Ben Pinkelman | Support Coach
Lauren Barber | Performance Analyst
Trey Ford | Head of Athletic Performance
Ashley Morataya | Assistant S&C
Nicole Titmas | Head of Athlete Health & Wellness - 7s / Women's 7s Head ATC
Meghan Chambers | Rehab Specialist
Jackie Rodriguez | Athletic Trainer
Jacque Scaramella | Dietician
Peter Haberl | Sport Psychologist
Liz Strohecker | Head of High Performance Operations - 7s
Maria Adams | High Performance Operations Coordinator - 7s
