The USA Women's age-grade teams return from Canada 0-4 and perhaps a little bit humbled, but certainly the teams showed improvement over their series with two of the Great White North's best women's collegiate programs.
The Americans perhaps caught a break in that Queen's University did not have Canada all-everything star Sophie de Goede in the lineup—she just completed her final year with the Gaels. But Queen's and hosts the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees were tough enough regardless.
In the opening match on Sunday the U20s were put to the sword by Queen's. The American U20s looked a little hesitant and certainly were just getting to know each other. They were beaten in the scrum, at the point of contact, and in the kicking game. The scrums especially proved a fruitful platform for the Gaels, as they scored several tries right off the scrum, and went into the break up 43-0. Five more tries made it 76-0 at full time. The U20s hardly saw the ball.
Also on Sunday the USA U23s played Ottawa and battled hard in this game. Outside center Bianca Curtis had several promising breaks, and the Americans had several really good scoring chances against University of Ottawa, but they generally couldn't convert. They did score in the first half thanks to some good work from lock Abbey Jacobs and hooker Hope Cooper before Curtis sped in. But, and this would be a bit of a theme, Ottawa came right back to score after that to make it 21-5 at the break.
In the second half a nifty dummy and run off a maul set up front-rower Roxelle Thomas for a try to make it 21-12. But the Gee-Gees came right back again to cap off pressure and make it 28-12. Soon it was 35-12.
But the key thing about these trips is improvement, and the USA U23s showed that improvement in the final portion of the game. They were more accurate in their skill execution and quicker to the ball. As a result, Aubrey Buresh scored a try and then a nifty play down the weak side saw then over for a second. 35-24 was the final score,and some positives to build on for next time.
