U20 Tour – DAY 13

So it’s taken a couple of days to get this written…and I’m sure everyone understands why.

Saturday……….everything looked like it would be a good day, the sea was calm and the wind was still and then we sailed into the perfect storm. It was if every one of the England players picked today to have the game of their life. Every call, every bounce of the ball, every pass went to hand, everything. Even the English coaches were astonished at the way it all came together for their team. It really didn’t matter who they played today I think the result would have been the same. We lost 110-0 and it’s a hard pill to swallow. On our end the injuries piled up quickly and it was clear that four international level games in ten days is just too much on the body. We lost several players in the course of the game and ended with players in positions they were unaccustomed to playing at this level. Losing Candace pre game and Jozy and K.J during the game robbed us of a back row with a combined twenty four international caps prior to this game. The bench was empty with fifteen minutes left to play and we finished with a lock and a scrumhalf in the backrow and a hooker on the wing. Most of the injuries were the aggravation of earlier injuries but Brooke Legate broke her hand and had a trip to the hospital. Everyone still on the field played hard till the final whistle and I’m incredibly proud of all of them.

Post game banquet was subdued. Teams got their food at different times and some teams were ready to leave when others were still eating. Speeches were short and plaques, pins, shirts, etc were handed out. The players came with stuff to trade but few of the players from the other sides had brought stuff. It was a bit of an anticlimax.

We went back to the Orphanage and had our own party. All the bad food was allowed and we used all the loose change we had to empty the soda and candy machines.....=) Spent time trying to get presents into already full bags and saying goodbye till the next time.

We came as the complete underdogs, took two scalps and finished in second place. You just have to smile at that. =)

Who are we? U S A!

USA U20 V Canada Video

Video of the USA U20 WNT game against the Canada U20 Women. Sorry the sound is off on the last try.

U20 WNT Tour Update

Day 12
Sorry this is late…..I seem to have less and less time and am running on four to five hours sleep a night.

We reviewed the video of the game against Canada this morning. There was heavy rain all morning and we made the decision to cancel the short practice we had planned and moved up the rest period. After lunch Alex Williams joined us and stayed for the afternoon practice session. The players are really clicking at the moment and every practice shows a new level of confidence. Jersey ceremony tonight and it was the last one for a lot of players. Lisa Henneman will play her eleventh international game tomorrow and this will make her the most capped U19/20 player.

England in the Final tomorrow.

USA U20 WNT Team For England Game

1 Wendy Sherman, Colorado State
2 Katie Hathaway, Norwich
3 Rachel Sommer, West Linn OR
4 Katie Humphrey, Kent WA
5 Becky Holmes, University of Nebraska
6 Erin LeGate, Maryville
7 Jozy Gessner, Summit, CO
8 Katie Johnson, Hopkins, MN
9 Brittany Houston, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
10 Sadie Anderson, Penn State
11 Morgan Rovetti, Brigham Young
12 Lisa Henneman, Seattle Women (Captain)
13 Brooke LeGate, Maryville, TN
14 Tyra McGrady, Indiana University
15 Jessica Sexauer, Army

16 Erica Lane, Chico State
17 Maggie Reidy, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
18 Mallory Ives, Colorado State
19 Cat Parkhill, University of Minnesota
20 Brittany Woodard, Virginia State
21 Asia Donaldson, Santa Monica Women
22 Amelia Villines, Stanford


Day 11

Injury report.
Candace’s shoulder looks like an AC sprain and she is out for the final and it’s the first game she has missed since her first cap against Canada in 2006. Erica’s strained hamstring looks like it may keep her out but Amy will re-evaluate her tomorrow. Maggie will also be evaluated tomorrow although it looks like she will pass the fitness test. Everyone else is bruised and sore but good to go.

It was another free day and everyone had a relaxed morning. There was a large group that went back to London to sightsee, shop and see Harry Potter at the Empire. Leicester Square. There was a smaller group who wanted to go to Rugby as they felt they missed out on Monday. Both groups had fun.

U20 WNT beats Canada.

This will be short as I am incredibly tired and it's almost 1:00 am. What a day! We went to Halton and had a walkthrough of the game plan in tennis shoes.Lunch was followed by the hour trip down to Brunel University. We had a quick warm up and then BEAT CANADA 38-20. =) =) =) See the report below. So we play England in the final on Saturday. The bad part of the day was losing Erica Cavanaugh and Candace Barley to injuries that will keep them out of the final. Well that's it till tomorrow....... a well earned day off.

USA U20 WNT Defeat Canada U20’s

The U20 Women’s National Team beat their Canadian counterparts by a score of 38-20. The game started well for the U20’s and they opened the scoring with a penalty by Sadie Anderson in the sixth minute. Canada tied the game with an eleventh minute penalty only to see the USA take the lead again two minutes later as Anderson slotted her second penalty. Canada got a try in the twenty-first minute to make it 6-8 but their lead was short lived as BYU’s Morgan Rovetti crossed for a try in the thirty-sixth minute and the half ended with the USA leading 11-8. The young eagles came out strong in the second half and Lisa Henneman scored in the forty-third minute and Anderson added the conversion. Anderson then added a try of her own to stretch the lead to 23-8. The teams traded scores but every time the Canadians scored the USA came back with more of their own. Tries from Tyra McGrady, Jess Sexauer and Brittany Houston saw the USA run out convincing 38-20 winners. “This was a huge game for these players” said Head Coach Bryn Chivers. “Despite the fact that we have never beaten Canada the confidence level was high going into this game and you could see in their focus in practice yesterday that they were capable of a win”. Asked who stood out Chivers replied, “Every game someone has stepped up. Sadie Anderson and Lisa Henneman had very good game. While all of the forwards played well the revelation was our youngest player Katie Humphreys who had some storming runs today”.

Unfortunately the win came at considerable cost as injuries to Erica Cavanaugh and Candace Barley will most likely rule them out of Saturday’s final against pre tournament favorites England.


USA U20 WNT Team

1 Wendy Sherman, Colorado State
2 Katie Hathaway, Norwich
3 Rachel Sommer, West Linn OR
4 Katie Humphrey, Kent WA
5 Maggie Reidy, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
6 Erin LeGate, Maryville
7 Jozy Gessner, Summit, CO
8 Candace Barley, Maryville TN
9 Brittany Houston, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
10 Sadie Anderson, Penn State
11 Morgan Rovetti, Brigham Young
12 Lisa Henneman, Seattle Women (Captain)
13 Brooke LeGate, Maryville, TN
14 Erica Cavenaugh, University of Virginia
15 Jessica Sexauer, Army

16 Tyra McGrady, Indiana University
17 Erica Lane, Chico State
18 Mallory Ives, Colorado State
19 Cat Parkhill, University of Minnesota
20 Brittany Woodard, Virginia State
21 Katie Johnson, Hopkins, MN
22 Amelia Villines, Stanford

Substitutions
McGrady for Cavanaugh (20)
Ives for McGrady (45)
Johnson for Barley (45)
Villines for Sexauer (67)

U20 Nations Cup Day 9

Just realized that there are details about the tour that I’ve left out. We practice at the fields at RAF Halton and the first couple of days we had the England Women’s 7’s team on the field next to us as they prepared for the European 7’s Championships in Hanover, Germany. Since then we have been on our own with the exception of the people who walk their dogs around the outside of the fields. Today a little black dog named Lola joined practice after she had spent twenty minutes trying to catch seagulls. She was a sweet pooch but her owner described her as “having a mind of her own, the little sod” =)

We have our own locker room at the small stadium and it’s nice that the players can change out of their wet clothes for mealtimes. The weather is strange. Today it was sunshine followed by torrential rain for fifteen minutes and then sunshine for the rest of the day. Weather has been in the mid sixties most days and the evenings have been nice and cool. The dorm has nice duvets and so the combination of two-a-days, cool evening breezes and a warm comforter has made for great sleeping. Talking of sleeping, we’ve introduced a one hour rest period in the middle of the day where the players have to be off their feet. They can sleep, read, listen to their ipod but they can’t walk around…….most seem to choose sleep.

So the day was our usual pre game practice day and the team spent time working on new combinations and tightening up some loose spots. Last session today produced some great rugby as the improved communication produced a higher level of confidence. They finally looked like they had played together for a while.

Had dinner, went back to the Orphange and the jersey ceremony was at 8:30 tonight. They know twenty-five players won’t go into twenty-two shirts but it’s always tough. Here is the squad for the game against Canada.

USA U20 WNT Team

1 Wendy Sherman, Colorado State
2 Katie Hathaway, Norwich
3 Rachel Sommer, West Linn OR
4 Katie Humphrey, Kent WA
5 Maggie Reidy, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
6 Erin LeGate, Maryville
7 Jozy Gessner, Summit, CO
8 Candace Barley, Maryville TN
9 Brittany Houston, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
10 Sadie Anderson, Penn State
11 Morgan Rovetti, Brigham Young
12 Lisa Henneman, Seattle Women (Captain)
13 Brooke LeGate, Maryville, TN
14 Erica Cavenaugh, University of Virginia
15 Jessica Sexaur, Army

16 Tyra McGrady, Indiana University
17 Erica Lane, Chico State
18 Mallory Ives, Colorado State
19 Cat Parkhill, University of Minnesota
20 Brittany Woodard, Virginia State
21 Katie Johnson, Hopkins, MN
22 Amelia Villines, Stanford

U20 WNT Day 8

Has it really been eight days? This was a free day for the players and they had options on where they could go. Jeff and Sue took a group south to Stonehenge and Bryn, Curt and Amy went up to the town of Rugby to see the birthplace of the game. The group that went to Rugby had a wonderfully relaxed day and the highlight was the players being allowed to run around on the field at Rugby School. Brittany Houston kicked three long range drop goals and didn’t stop smiling for an hour……..she was in rugby nirvana.

The group that went off to see the big stones had a good time. They found Stonehenge fascinating although Becky Holmes got distracted and went off to look at sheep. They spent the afternoon in Oxford on the way back and the players got to see some of the places that are used for the interior shots in the Harry Potter movies.

The day produced a great tour moment when Maggie Reidy got distracted by a window full of shoes and walked slap bang into a lamppost. One leg and one arm shot out in front of her as it stopped her dead in her tracks.

U20 WNT - Day 7

We had the early game so our schedule was up for breakfast, walk through the gameplan in tennis shoes and off to Brunel for the game against England. We made nine changes to the team that beat Wales but they looked really good together yesterday so we were confident we could give England a good game. The game was a tough one and ended in what looked like a one sided 7-42 loss but the reality was that we gave England problems in a lot of areas and got beat for speed on the outside. They were big and physical but our forwards went toe to toe with them and their tries were all in the corners and unconverted. We actually finished the stronger and got a try from Brittany Rose in the sixty seventh minute and it was a good one. Asia Donaldson found some room on the outside and took the ball to the English twenty-two, She offloaded to Sadie and then a couple of quick offloads between the backs took the ball down to the English five meter line. A series of small rucks resulted in a penalty to the USA. Brittany was being treated for an injury when the play started and ran sixty yards to rejoin her teammates as Brittany Houston took a quick tap and gave it to Brittany Rose who took a couple of England players with her as she put the ball down on the goalline.



We lost a couple of players to injury as Jozy Gessner re-injured the elbow she hyper extended at the U23 NASC and Brittany Rose’s shoulder injury meant that she couldn’t continue. We have fingers crossed that they will both be available for selection for Wednesday’s game. The post game meal at Brunel was fun and the both teams seemed to get along well. We were back at the Orphanage by 9:00 pm and all the players were fast asleep long before lights out at 11:00 pm.

U20 WNT Tour day 6

Everyone was pooped this morning after walking all over London yesterday and it was another day of players falling asleep every time we stopped moving. Kurt got more great pictures of "Sleeping Beauties" so I thought I would post one. Practices were short and productive as the squad worked on tweaking the gameplan for tomorrow's match with England. Jersey ceremony tonight and selections include nine changes to the team that beat Wales. Brittany Rose and Brittany Houston have both been in the program for a few years but tomorrow will be their first U20 caps. We finished the night with a chalk talk and the players were in bed by 10 pm. We play England tomorrow and they looked really good against Canada. We know they are the clear favorites but the team is upbeat about their prospects. We hadn't beaten Wales before Thursday so we know that anything can happen.

Tyra's Try

Tyra McGrady scores for the USA U20 WNT against Wales.

Friday July 10th
The players had a free day today and we all went to London for the day. We split into three groups and each went exploring the city. All the players got back to the meeting point at 7:00 pm and we took the train back home and shared stories. We watched the video of the Wales game and ended the night by celebrating Asia Donaldson's birthday with cakes and a solo rendition of Happy Birthday by Jeff Noe. Fun day.

U20 WNT - Game Day 1

Thursday July 9th

Let's start at the end.......We beat Wales 7-3

It was a great day for the team. Had the bacon, sausage, egg, baked beans and tomato breakfast and it was very tasty. Found out that Adele who is the head cook at Stoke Mandeville took the players laundry home and did it in her own washer and dryer as we were having problems with the ones at the dorms. What a sweetheart! That lady will certainly get a tour t-shirt. Went out to Halton for the Jersey Ceremony and a walk through of the game plan. Lunch then off to Brunel for the game against Wales.....see following report. After match meal was a great opportunity for the players to socialize with the Welsh players. here is a snippet of video of the players right after the win.......emotional as eight of them were on the squad that lost by a point to Wales in 2007.




USA U20 WNT Win Nation’s Cup Opener

The USA U20 beat Wales by a score of 7-3 to win the opening game of the U20 Nations Cup. The USA started the game on the back foot as they struggled with the passion of their Welsh counterpart. The young eagles weathered several attacks by the Welsh before giving up a penalty in their twenty-two that resulted in them going 0-3 down after ten minutes. This actually seemed to settle the nerves of the U20’s and they began to create chances of their own. They almost leveled the game at the twenty–three minute mark but Cat Parkhill’s long-range penalty attempt fell just short of the posts. The rest of the half was a forward dominated battle that was mostly played between the twenty–twos.

The USA came out very strong in the second half and got down to the Welsh five-meter line only to knock on as they went for the tryline. Fifteen minutes into the second half Erica Cavenaugh received a yellow card and despite being down a player the game began to swing in the U20’s favor. They began to dominate possession and territory only to have several scoring opportunities thwarted by a swarming Welsh defense. With the game approaching injury time the Welsh were awarded a series of penalties that took them out to the half way line and they looked like they had weathered the storm when Tyra McGrady pounced on a dropped ball and weaved forty yards down the field to score in the corner. Cat Parkhill stepped up and kicked the conversion from the sideline and the US bench erupted as the ref blew for full time. “This was a well deserved result. We played most of the second half on the front foot and had several chances that we just couldn’t finish,” said Head Coach Bryn Chivers. The squad contained eight players from the squad who narrowly lost to Wales the last time the teams played. “This was an emotional win for the team as we lost 14-15 to Wales two years ago on the last kick of the game”. Chivers added. When asked who stood out for the U20’s Chivers credited all of the players but thought flanker Jozy Gessner and wing Erica Cavenaugh stood out for different reasons. “Jozy Gessner was all over the field and her work ethic was an inspiration. In a physical game you have to have someone who will step up and put in the big hits and Erica Cavenaugh did that today”.

The U20 WNT’s next game is Sunday July 12th when they take on a strong England team that beat Canada 45-0 in the second match today.

U20 WNT - First Days in England

Wednesday July 8th
Good day of practice and some light moments off the field. The forwards really took it to the scrum sled this morning and they looked tighter and more focused than we’ve seen before. The backs made some adjustments and all of them are competing for a starting spot. Narcolepsy is running rampant as the effects of jet lag results in players falling asleep every time we stop moving. A classic moment happened at lunch when Brooke Legate fell asleep while sitting on the lap of her twin sister Erin, who was also asleep. Kurt got the moment on camera and it’s only fair that we share it with the world. =)



We got back tonight to find the Welsh team had moved into the Orphanage with us. It’s going to be interesting with them in the rooms down one end and us in the rooms at the other. They look considerably smaller than us but we know from experience that tomorrow they will be ferocious competitors despite the size difference. Feeling amongst the players is very upbeat and the general consensus that this is the game where we beat them. More after the game tomorrow.


Tuesday July 7th


It was up early and off to breakfast. The new players had their first experience with a British breakfast……the thick bacon and baked beans came as a bit of a surprise. Practices are at the airforce base at RAF Halton and the team practiced there twice today. They spent the morning working on the breakdown and in the afternoon the different units got to work on some of the situations that had caused problems for the team at the U23 NASC in June. The team ate lunch and dinner at RAF Halton and then returned to the dorms at Stoke Mandeville in the early evening. The accommodation is best described as basic and the players lovingly refer to the place as “The Orphanage”. The forwards are in one room and the backs are next door……although they are only separated by a low wall and can talk between the two groups.

Monday July 6th
The U20 Women’s National Team arrived in London on Monday afternoon and made short drive to their base at Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire. The players were clearly jet lagged and most were fast asleep long before curfew.