|
(San Diego keeps the opposition at bay. Dobson Images.)
By Jackie Finlan
San Francisco - Treasure Island crowned an East Coast and West Coast winner between the WPL and DI Club championships today. The San Diego Surfers took the Women’s National DI Club title today, blanking NOVA 14-0.
The Surfers split their converted tries between halves, with the first occurring during the first minute of play. NOVA kicked off to San Diego, which turned it over in the following ruck. NOVA quickly regrouped and starting sending the ball wide. True to its nature, the San Diego defense came up hard and wing Casey Fields cherry picked the pass from NOVA’s outside center. Fields raced three-quarters of the field for the corner try. Daralisa Cheung hit the difficult conversion for the 7-0 lead.
But the early score didn’t jumpstart a scoring spree; rather, it tested San Diego’s defensive fortitude.
“We played a lot of defense in the first half,” backs captain Kirstin Hartos said. “Our wings got a couple breaks, but we spent more time in our half than theirs.
“NOVA used their boot a lot,” Hartos continued, “not deep kicks like we saw with Atlanta, but shallow ones that could be gathered and sent out to their speedy wings. But our wings [Fields and Monique Measures] were in good position to counter-attack, and we defended those attempts well.”
San Diego’s defense was tested at the 15-minute mark when a flanker was sin binned for not coming through the gate, and the team was forced to push NOVA back from its 10 meter line.
NOVA coach Scott Delaney praised the risky defensive strategy that San Diego employed. "San Diego ran a 5-up defense against our backs," Delaney explained, "which took away our space. They changed the pace of their defense, as well, which disrupted our rhythm on offense."
Neither team found much success on offense. NOVA, which was accustomed to first-phase success, was slow to adjust and, in retrospect, should have engineered a more patient offensive strategy that involved switching fields. San Diego's two scores were generated by defense - an interception and turnover.
“Although we didn’t take advantage of every opportunity,” Hartos said of her backs, “we started to click better in the second half.” With about 15 minutes left in the match, the San Diego backs created a three-on-two on the outside, with fullback Mandy Wilson inserting. Wilson dotted down for the icing on the cake, while Cheung converted, 14-0.
“We were patient on Friday, and it paid off,” Hartos said of the 21-10 win over Atlanta. “If we weren’t winning rucks, or turned over the ball, we didn’t scramble. We put our heads down and kept working.” The patience paid off, and now San Diego is DI champ.
“It’s great to come out here and have confidence in your team,” Hartos said. “It’s another thing to finally get here [the finals], play hard for 80 minutes and win.”
"We played the best game of our season," Delaney said of his team. "I'm very proud of my players. San Diego beat us on the day. We heavily scout teams and I spent a lot of time figuring out what they were doing, but I didn’t spend time thinking about how they were going to defend us. San Diego was the best coached team we've faced this year."
“It’s been such a battle with our team,” Hartos said. “One of our founders was here today, and she said the last time we were in contention for a title was in the ‘80s. To be here 20 years later and do well – we had people in tears.”
So what’s next? Hartos and her team aren’t looking beyond the celebrations tonight. They’ve come to nationals the past two years and got better each visit. They’ve made incremental goals for the team and are relishing in the success.
“We set out to win our league, and we did it,” Hartos explained. “We set out to win the first game at nationals, and we did. It’s so exciting to realize you’ve met all the goals you’ve set for yourself.”
Third Place
Atlanta fulfilled all but one of its goals, but was still ecstatic to finish third after defeating Seattle 10-0 today. The game was a scrappy, intense match-up, and both teams were desperate to walk away with a win on the weekend.
Twenty minutes in, Atlanta capitalized on a Seattle offsides penalty, with flyhalf Heather Hale splitting the posts, 3-0.
"They came right back after that score,” Atlanta’s Tia Doppenberg said. “Everyone came out hitting really hard. There were a lot of scuffles, tons of aggression, some fighting.”
Seattle broke Atlanta’ defense in the back line, but the back three of wings Patty Jervey and Lauren Waltz, and fullback Irene Gardner did a great job of shutting down the breakaways. The Harlequins defense also had to suck up Seattle’s punishing 10-12 combo, led by Mari Thierren.
“We played our kicking game to relieve a lot pressure,” Doppenberg explained. “We tried to keep them on their back foot and keep moving forward.”
The tactic worked when, the Harlequins took a quick tap penalty in close proximity to the try line. Several Seattle players were off sides and a penalty was awarded (along with a yellow card). Hale converted the try, 10-0.
No points were scored in the second half, while both teams relied heavily on their back three to clean up any potential offensive threats. Doppenberg is quick to point out, however, that Seattle’s breakaways never reached Atlanta’s 22 meter.
“We played more like a team today,” Doppenberg said in relation to Friday’s performance. “San Diego was a little bit better than Seattle, but no dramatically so. We really bonded after that loss and played with confidence today.”
“We’re pretty pumped,” Doppenberg said of the third place finish. “This is the highest ranking that Atlanta has ever seen. It’s the first time we’ve come out of the final four with a win. Last year, we were dead last at sweet 16s. People thought we were going to be a joke.”
Atlanta was definitely no joke, and the South has something to be proud of.
|