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January 18 - More than 200 of the country’s top female collegiate rugby players will convene Saturday and Sunday in Round Rock, Texas for the Women’s All Star 7s Championships. Vying for the championship in the top division are 10 conference All Star teams split into three pools, while nine conferences are after the Small College title.
In both competitions, pool play is contested Saturday, followed by knockouts on Sunday. In Small College, all nine teams will play a random draw of pool opponents Saturday, seeding an elimination bracket Sunday.
Grouped in Pool A of the Cup competition are the Big Ten, Allegheny and Great Lakes conferences. In Pool B are the Lone Star, Upstate New York and South Atlantic. And in Pool C are the Midwest, Great Waters, Rugby Northeast and High Peaks.
“Developing team chemistry has been important to us,” said Carly Baker, coach of Colonial Coast in the Small College pool, “and we’re excited to come back with some old and new players.”
The emphasis on chemistry carries through teams representing their conferences in Divisions I and II, as Great Waters head coach Betty Nguyen was grateful to get her team together locally for a practice before traveling.
“Although lack of practice is to be expected in any kind of select environment, it was awesome to let the players get to know each other and us [as coaches] before we met in Texas,” she said.
New stars revealing themselves is the goal of the All Star weekend, and they often do so by outshining known commodities. One of those others will be looking to measure themselves against is Lone Star’s Telesi Uhatafe. The Southern Nazarene sophomore was scouted from this event last year for Premier Rugby Sevens, playing last summer with Team.
Great Waters is also stacked, with 2022 All Americans in Eau Claire’s Izzy Currie and Cerys Ridd and DePaul’s Nicky Taghert. Lone Star is led by Texas A&M All American Genevieve Pace. Northern Iowa sophomore Morgan Linck attended camp with the U20 national team and will be a live wire for the Midwest. Coastal Carolina All American Lily Hess is one to watch out for on South Atlantic, as is St. Bonaventure All American Makenna Ramsey on Upstate New York.
With the high temperature forecasted to be in the low 40s Saturday, and rain possible Sunday, abnormal wintry conditions could have an impact. All stadium games will be streamed live on The Rugby Network with the remaining games live streamed on NCR’s YouTube.
