Lindenwood, Harvard, Army Lead R7CC Women Day One
Lindenwood, Harvard, Army Lead R7CC Women Day One
The much-anticipated clash between D1 Elite and NCAA women's college teams was definitely interesting, and sometimes startling as the R7CC capped off Day One.
It was hot in Georgia and certainly teams that managed the conditions were able to be more consistent, but there are other factors, too, such as how long a team had been preparing—factors that sometimes seemed to matter, and sometimes didn't seem to matter so much.
Women's Blue
No one came out of the day with a perfect record. San Jose State looked very dangerous coming into the tournament and for the most part showed that, shutting out Georgia 24-0 and shutting out Kennesaw State 19-0. But they were upended by Saint Mary's 12-7.
The Gaels, for their part, were held to a 5-5 tie by Kennesaw Sate and ended up 2-0-1. So it was Saint Mary,s San Jose State, Kennesaw State, and Georgia in that order.
Women's Red
Navy was excellent all day. Their defense was immaculate and they were powerful with ball in hand. The scores tell the story: 39-0 over Stanford, 33-0 over Connecticut, and 36-7 over Princeton. Princeton ended up 2-1.
Northeastern scraped by 2-1 after a weirdly slow-moving 7-0 win over Virginia Tech. Davenport's combination of speed and strength in the tackle put them past Northeastern, Air Force, and Virginia Tech. So three teams on the verge of varsity status will make the top four.
Women's Gold
Lindenwood were in control, allowing exactly zero points in beating Dartmouth, Brown, and West Chester. Helen Van Hattem followed up on her D1 Elite final player of the game performance by taking full advantage of the space set up by the power running of Taina Tukuafo and Eti Haungatau. Sativa Tarau-Peehikuru kept them all moving in the right direction, which always seemed toward the tryline.
Very impressive showing from @LURugby ... we check in with Sativa Tarau-Peehikuru and Eti Haungatau ... and apparently we touch on a touchy subject! @d1eliterugby @Rugby7CC #rugby7cc pic.twitter.com/RurT1EfEva
— Alex Goff (@goffrugbyreport) May 14, 2022
Stung by their 31-0 loss to Lindenwood in their opener, Dartmouth rebounded to beat West Chester and Brown and book a place in the quarterfinals, but it was a sobering opening to the weekend to battle with the physical and skilled Lions.
West Point surprised many with an opening win over Life University. They moved the ball well and with Charisma Henry finding her scoring touch the Black Knights used that game as a launching pad, shutting out Sacred Heart and then beating Queens 22-5.
"We went out there and it was really pretty rugby," said Henry. "We always have expectations to win; that's our standard."
Harvard struck quickly and ruthlessly and dismissed Central Washington to open the competition. With their ability to pass well on the run they tested defenses all day. So those two NCAA teams and the D1 Elite Lindenwood were unbeaten, but don't count out Life, which cast aside the early loss to Army and just kept coming.
"It was getting those nerves out of the way and are just experiencing the big show," said Life's Autumn LoCicero.
Central Washington won two in a row after losing their opener to join Dartmouth and Life at 2-1.
