The USA women’s team that will be competing in Dubai this week is very different from the team that won the Olympic Bonze Medal in 2024.
Some players have retired. Some probably need a break. And younger players are breaking through. Kristi Kirshe and Spiff Sedrick are back. So is Ariana Ramsey (easy to forgot she has been park of two Olympic cycles now) and Sarah Levy. But overall this is a new-look team.
“I think for us as a program, when I came in as the coach with these guys for the Paris campaign, one of our goals was to have a game model that maximized the strengths of the players, and we could put what makes them special and unique, their unique selling points, at the heart of that game model,” explained Head Coach Emilie Bydwell. “And that was then how we went and played in Paris, and how we ultimately achieved one of our goals.”
But that was that team. Led as it was by the power and physicality of Ilona Maher and Alev Kelter, and the defense of Lauren Doyle and the combination of power and speed of Naya Tapper.
This team in 2025 is different. Bydwell had to find new players, and not get bogged down in what players were out there, but, instead, find the best players.
“I’ve worked in the pathway for many, many years,” explained Bydwell. “And so I'm definitely somebody that hits the pavement a lot and really tries to get a pretty good understanding of what's coming next. And obviously I have Martha Danes and Irene Gardner helping with that. And so we were really trying to make sure that we had a very clear understanding of who the all the players were and what their profiles were going to be. And [in 2024-25] we did try to play pretty similarly, I would say, to how we played in Paris. And I think that while we did have some some successes last season, I think one of the biggest challenges is we knew, like I really knew, that we weren't playing in a way that was going to maximize the strengths of the next group of athletes.”
So once the season ended, Bydwell started to look at a new game plan. they held combines, but it was clear the new talent was smaller, faster … different.
“We were trying to figure out, okay, what is the unique selling points of this group that we're going to go forward with? And then how can we evolve how we play to make sure that their strengths are at the center of how we're trying to play. So, we're not necessarily as tall. We might not weigh as much, but we have the pace, the dynamism. I think that the US is now creating some really skillful playmakers, to the point where we've never really had the role of the tempo playmaker.”
Looking at the newer players, Sariah Ibarra and debutante Nalu Liufau were the heart of the hugely successful (and enormously skilled) Belmont Shore club of recent years. Not to overlook Majestic, who have players on the radar, which they should.
It’s the same elsewhere. Ashley Cowdrey is a smart rugby mind with skill and clutch ability. Tahna Wilfley is very young but has grown up with the game (since her dad was an Eagle).
But they are not necessarily bruisers. They have skill and artistry … and speed.
