The USA Women’s Sevens took a fifth place finish to close out the 2024 SVNS season on Sunday.
They wanted more and really they could have had more if they'd been a bit luckier. The Eagles ended pool play 2-1, losing big to New Zealand but beating Canada and Great Britain. But New Zealand let slip a game against the Canadians, leaving Canada, USA, and New Zealand all at 2-1. The Eagles lost out on a semifinal spot due to points difference.
From there they ended their campaign with wins over Fiji and Ireland to take 5th, and on the weekend in Madrid they were a cool 4-1.
This was a lesson in being switched on for every minute because the Olympics won't be any more forgiving.
“We were pretty disappointed," said USA Head Coach Emilie Bydwell, "but the unfortunate part about this is while we had instances of matches that were really positive. We weren’t delivering that consistently throughout the game and regaining that when we really needed to. For us, today was about how we can control the game over a 14-minute period. This could happen in the Olympics—you can win two pool games and then lose out, so it’s important for us to focus on what we can control, what the process is, and what the next thing is."
