GREELEY, CO. - The Women’s Collegiate All-American XVs have named their full squad for All Star Week taking place August 1st and 3rd at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. 

The event will bring together four teams including the All-Americans, Women’s Premier League East & West All Stars, as well as a D1/D2 All Star team. On Day One, the WPL West and D1/D2 All Stars will play each other first, at 3 PM MT, after which the All-Americans will face the WPL East All Stars at 5 PM MT. 

In between the two match days, the All-Americans will play an exhibition game against the Glendale Merlins’ Division I team at 5:30 PM before the main event resumes on August 3. 

There, losers from Day One will face off at 9:30 AM with winners playing in the final at 11:30 AM. Admission is FREE to all fans with a LIVE stream available on the Women’s Premier League Facebook Page, facebook.com/wplrugby. 

Head Coach Katie Dowty’s full squad features four capped Women’s Eagles including Azniv Nalbandian, Annakaren Pedraza, McKenzie Hawkins and McKenna Strong, alongside a wealth of up-and-coming talent from the collegiate programs across the country. 

Over the past several months, Women’s Collegiate All-American Opportunity Days served as an important setting for new faces and returning All-American players to vie for selection.

“Following a great turnout at our four Regional Opportunity Days, we are very excited to introduce some new faces from a wide range of collegiate programs into the pathway,” said Dowty. “We also anticipate some breakout performances from our returning All-American players, who we will rely on to set a high standard and prove they are capable of elevating the team’s performance as a whole. 

“The All-Star Week will be USA Rugby’s toughest domestic competition of the year – a welcome challenge for these up and coming players. They will gain valuable experience in highly competitive matches and are eager to show what they can do at this level.”

“This All Star Week is a hugely important opportunity platform for all the players involved,” said USA Women’s National Team XVs Head Coach Rob Cain. “Within a month I will personally have had eyes in person on the Eagles squad at the Super Series, the next generation of players with the Under-20s in the Tri Nations Cup and now with the remaining pool of players who are pushing so hard to take center stage with this event. 

“It’s exciting to see the inner competition show what these athletes can do, how far they’ve developed away from their last sighting and why we should be including them in the player pools for high performance.” 

WOMEN’S COLLEGIATE ALL-AMERICAN XVs FULL SQUAD 

 

PLAYER NAME	POSITION	COLLEGE
Siale Alatini	Back row	American International College
Dana Alimena	Back row	Pitzer College
Emerson Allen	Lock	Eckerd College
Emma Auld	Flyhalf	Virginia
Spencer Boldt	Fullback	Central Washington
Emily Briggs	Prop	Brigham Young
Naomi Carrillo	Center	Santa Barbara
Hope Cooper	Hooker	Cal
Isabel Cuddy	Center/Wing	Sacred Heart
Elisha Fromstein	Hooker	Penn State
Summer Harris-Jones	Wing	Virginia
McKenzie Hawkins	Center	Lindenwood
Leah Ingold	Flyhalf	Central Washington
Bridget Kahele	Scrumhalf	Life University
Matilda Kocaj	Center/Wing	Babson College
Jennifer Kronish	Lock	Harvard
Karissa Lacy	Hooker	Life University
Rebecca Luedke	Prop	Cal State University Chico
Daisy Manoa	Center	MiraCosta College
Grace Martin	Prop	Quinnipiac
Diana May	Back row	Utah Valley
Azniv Nalbandian	Prop	Penn State
Sophia Nieves	Lock	Middlebury College
Akweley Okine	Prop	Harvard
Bianca Ortiz-Pallen	Back row	Central Washington
Veronica Overbeek	Prop	Davenport U
Jetta Owens	Center	Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Anna Park	Back row	Stanford
Anna Karen Pedraza	Scrumhalf	Lindenwood
Sophie Pyrz	Scrumhalf	Penn State
Genevieve Quirion	Back row	Harvard
Katherine Ramage	Scrumhalf	Dartmouth College
Emily Roskopf	Center	Quinnipiac
Allie Schrenker	Back row	Tennessee at Chattanooga
Gianna Soloman	Back row	Penn State
Vanessa Somoza	Lock	Cal State Chico
McKenna Strong	Lock	Lindenwood
Caitlin Weigel	Center	Harvard
Adrienne Yoder	Fullback	Air Force

 

WOMEN’S COLLEGIATE ALL-AMERICAN STAFF

Head Coach | Katie Dowty

Assistant Coach | Tiff Faaee

Assistant Coach | Dave Clancy

Assistant Coach | Justin Moss

Physical Performance | Stacey Bridges

Project Soar Shadow Coach | Lindey Wise

Athletic Trainer | Jade Callan

Athletic Trainer | Amie Kern

Team Manager | Annemarie Farrell

 

ALL STAR WEEK SCHEDULE
All Times Mountain | Stream LIVE on facebook.com/WPLrugby

 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 1

3 PM: WPL West All-Stars vs Club D1 & D2 All-Stars

5 PM: WPL East All-Stars vs Women's Collegiate All-Americans

 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3 

9:30 AM: Losers of Thursday's matches

11:30 AM: Winners of Thursday's matches