NASSAU, Bahamas.
The U20 WNT won their opening game in the 2010 NACRA Championships as they defeated a spirited Cayman Islands Senior Women’s side by a score of 85-0. The start time of the game was pushed back by thirty minutes due to heavy rain and lightening but the U20’s were clearly unfazed by the delay. From the opening kick off they strung together a flowing multi-faze attack that saw ten different players touch the ball before a knock on in the Cayman twenty-two brought the play to a halt. Two plays later Bui Baravilala went on the first of many hard charging runs of the day and went in under the posts for the first try. Chelsea Garber kicked the conversion. The U20’s struck again right off the kick off as several the U20 forwards ran off each other before lock Alycia Washington offloaded to Kiki McKnight who beat a couple of defenders to touch down for the second try.
The Cayman team plays predominately sevens rugby and they had a difficult time adjusting to the hard running American forwards. This gave the U20 WNT backs plenty of space to launch their attacks and the U20’s scored six more tries in the half.
The U20 coaches used all the reserves in the second half as they took the opportunity to try some different combinations. The Junior Eagles scored another five tries in the second half and the five conversions apiece from Chelsea Garber and Bui Baravilala took the final score to 85-0.
Head Coach Bryn Chivers was pleased with the result but was cautiously optimistic about the teams upcoming games. “The team played well tonight but we saw the Canadians look equally impressive against the Caribbean Select Side. It’s easy for a young team to let down after a big win and the Caribbean women have the size and speed to cause us some problems if the players don’t stay focused”. Asked if anyone stood out in the game Chiver’s mentioned several players including Chelsea Garber from Brown and Bui Barivilala from Hawaii. “All the vets played well and several of the rookies stood out. Bui (Barivilala) was a force all game and scored a couple of nice tries but it was Chelsea Garber who was the revelation. She plays flyhalf on her own team so the move to fullback was a big experiment for us and she turned in a great all around performance”.
While Garber’s total of twenty-five points (3 tries, 5 conversions) in the game made her the top points scorer for a single U20 game and in total points for the U20 WNT program it was another milestone that made Chiver’s highlight of the game. “We were all excited for Peach (Haley Anderson) as her try tonight made her the youngest USA woman to score a try in an international game”.
The U20 WNT play their next game against the Caribbean Select Side who lost their opening game to the Canada U20’s.
Tries: Chelsea Garber (3), Bui Baravilala (2), Katie Johnson (2), Kiki McNight (2), Ann Marie Bowlus, Candace Barley, Haley Anderson, Wendy Sherman, Katie Hathaway.
1 Kelly Sager Penn State (Replaced by Sherman)
2 Rachel Ryan U of Wyoming (Replaced by Hathaway)
3 Andee Samborski Livingstone, MI
4 Alycia Washington U Conn
5 Brittany Rose Unattached (Replaced by Humphreys)
6 McKenzie Lewis Mesa State
7 Katie Johnson Hopkins, MN (Replaced by Gessner)
8 Candace Barley Lee Univeristy (Replaced by Svatos)
9 Haley Anderson Summit, CO
10 Hannah Lockwood Oregon State
11 Holly Zoeller U of North Carolina (Replaced by O’Brien)
12 Bui Baravilala Aliamanu, Hawaii
13 Kiki McKnight U of Central Florida
14 Anne Marie Bowlus U of California - Santa Cruz
15 Chelsea Garber Brown
16 Mileka Grager (injured) Washington State
17 Wendy Sherman Colorado State
18 Katie Hathaway Norwich
19 Katie Humphreys Kent, WA
20 Amee Svatos Canby, OR
21 Brittany O’Brien U of Rhode Island
22 Jozy Gessner Colorado State.
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