Podium for USA Women in LAX
Podium for USA Women in LAX
The USA women took 3rd at the SVNS LAX, losing just the one game all weekend.
After beating Spain by a massive margin and Great Britain almost emphatically, the Eagles capped off their pool play with a tight 22-19 win over rivals Canada.
That game wasn't quite as touch-and-go as it might seem. It was 17-12 with about two minutes left and Kayla Canett's try put the USA two scores up. So even Canada's converted try scored after the hooter wasn't going to change the result.
On Sunday the Americans dominated South Africa in the quarterfinals before finally running into trouble—Faith Nathans try at the death pulled victory out for Australia 26-19 in the semifinal.
So that put the USA back into the 3rd-4th, or Bronze Medal, match.
And in that game the Eagles and the Canadians battled back and forth for much of the first half. But once Naya Tapper beat two off a standing start the USA seemed more in control. Canada did answer, scoring 90 seconds after the first half hooter sounded. But in the second half the USA pulled away to win 21-7. Steph Rovetti zipped through a tiny gap to open the second half, and it stayed a one-score game until less than two minutes to go. Canett sent a grubber ahead for Spiff Sedrick to chase down. Sedrick was pushed away off the ball. No one was anywhere near so penalty try, and the game was done at that point.
Box Scores:
USA 40 Spain 5
Tries: Levy, Sullivan, Maher 2, Sedrick, Thomas
Convs: Canett 3, Kelter 2
USA 34 Great Britain 7
Tries: Kirshe, Maher, Doyle, Rovetti, Ramsey 2
Convs: Kelter 2
USA 22 Canada 19
Tries: Sullivan 2, Kelter, Canett
Convs: Kelter
USA 24 South Africa 7
Tries: Maher 3, Ramsey
Convs: Olsen, Canett
USA 19 Australia 26
Tries: Sullivan, Sedrick, Kelter
Convs: Sedrick, Kelter
USA 21 Canada 7
Tries: Tapper, Rovetti, Penalty Try
Convs: Kelter, Canett, Penalty Try
Ilona Maher led the team with six tries.
What does this all mean? It means that the USA is perfectly capable of winning a SVNS tournament. They scored at least three tries in every game (and three tries is basically your win threshold) and exceeded that in four times.
They made their first podium of the season, and took sole possession of 4th in the World Series, behind Australia, New Zealand, and France, in that order. So the Eagles are secure in marking the top eight and being in position to win the World Series
