USA Women Medal Hopes Live as Eagles Make Semis
USA Women Medal Hopes Live as Eagles Make Semis
The USA Women's 7s team still has their medal hopes alive as they are now into the semifinals of the Paris Olympics.
This wasn't a perfect day for the Eagles, but they did have a very good nine minutes or so, and that was enough.
The day opened with the USA and France both 2-0 in pool play. Both teams had already qualified for the quarterfinals but this game would decide the seedings. Presumably the winner would get a slightly easier matchup.
Ilona Maher, who has rightly buffed up her star image on this massive stage, got the USA started with a try, but after that France was in control of field position and, as a result, the game. Powerful runner Seraphine Okemba proved very difficult to stop, especially when the Eagles were making silly mistakes in their own 22.
Repeatedly, errors such as a half-hearted offload, or a poorly-decided pass, or a penalty, gave France a launching pad deep in the USA zone. The result was four tries from Okemba and a 31-14 win for France. As often happens when the USA loses to France, the Eagles lost the physical battle. But they also made it hard on themselves.
Still, the USA was now into the quarterfinals. The result meant France would face Canada while the USA would take on the team that had turfed them out of the Olympic tournament last time, Great Britain. In that game in Tokyo the Eagles had started well and then the wheels had fallen off. This time, it was GB who started well and they held a 7-0 lead well into the first half. The Eagles were again making little errors, forcing it a bit.
But finally, once they got some clean scrum possession the ball was sent wide to Maher. The 2017 Sorensen Award winner out of Quinnipiac had Naya Tapper on her outside but they were facing three defenders. Maher angled her run to draw all three to her, and then passed perfectly to Tapper, who raced off about 50 meters to so. It was smart, simple open-field play and now it was 7-5.
With time almost up in the first half, Maher had a chance to make it 10-7 with a massive charge down the sideline. But out of nowhere Welsh star Jasmine Joyce caught up with Maher and made enough of a tackle to save a try and knock the ball loose to end the half.
The second-half adjustments appeared to be that the USA needed to be better setting the ball in the ruck, needed to be faster to clear out, and needed to be surer of their passes. But the key move was subbing in Kristi Kirshe. It was Kirshe who lurked around the jumpers on the second-half kickoff, caught GB's tap-back, and raced in to give her side the lead. Alev Kelter converted and it was 12-7.
It was Kirshe who stopped GB's potential answer with an alert poach that forced a holding-on penalty. And then it was Kirshe who cut through two tacklers to open up space of Sam Sullivan on the outside, and Kirshe who sent a good pass for the US Army captain to take into the corner. Sullivan's try made it a two-score lead at 17-7.
GB had a couple of chances, one on a break where Ariana Ramsey did a pretty good reenactment of Joyce's cover tackle, and one when they had a quick-tap opportunity that they dropped. The pressure caused GB mistakes, in the end, and the USA defense was outstanding.
Highlights USA vs GB. Story about it all on the site! https://t.co/8L9Vqb6MJE
— Alex Goff (@goffrugbyreport) July 29, 2024
So 17-7 was the score and the USA is now in the semifinals. They play New Zealand, who hammered China 55-5 in their quarterfinal, Tuesday morning at 9:30AM Eastern Time on Peacock. Meanwhile, France was upset by Canada 19-14, which is good news for the USA as they match up better against the Canadians than the French. Canada takes on Australia, which put Ireland to the sword in their quarterfinal.
That game is at 10AM Tuesday. Then the Bronze Medal match will be at 1PM and the Gold Medal match will be at 1:45PM. One win produced a medal; two wins mean gold.
