The USA Women’s U20 team held off Wales U20s 28-27 Tuesday in a Fourth of July victory in the Canadian Capital.
The Junior Eagles ran out to a 14-5 lead in the first half.
Wales mounted a comeback but couldn’t quite hail the USA in.
A key reason for that was flyhallf Alissa Eisenhart. The West Point freshman was perfect on her conversions, going 4-for-4 to help win the game by a point.
Lock Nikki Lynch (Pleasanton Cavaliers and now Brown University) , wing Serena Vualono (Chicago Lions), fullback Ashley Cowdrey (Sparta Rock and now Davenport University), and center Tiahna Padilla (Fallbrook HS and now Harvard) all scored tries.
It was a big day for Lynch who started her career as a center-wing but has managed the conversion to lock nicely.
The USA started much the stronger and with Eisenhart's conversions actually led 28-5 at one point. Wales started to claw their way back, scoring twice out wide, meaning the conversions were difficult, and that made ot 28-15. A try under the posts was converted to make it 28-22, and then with time just about done the Welsh got their 5th try. The kick was from touchline was away, and the USA had held on.
