The last games of Spring..

CMH travels to take on Northshore at Friedenfeld Park in Germantown at noon this Saturday.

On Wenesday, May 23, Brookfield defeated Muskego 20-0 and Muskego-B downed CMH-B (score unreported).

I think next week will wrap-up everyone's Spring season. KM is hosting an alumnae game June 6, 2007 at 5:00. KM's alumnae game is a real tribute to the success of that program. Last year, the Alumnae showed up in force and KM played a full 15-a-side game. While the alumnae dominated play the first half using the wisdom of experience, age caught up with the alumnae in the second half. Good luck KM alum!

Also up-coming is Brookfield's and Fond du Lac's final game. They meet on June 2, 2007 at Minooka Park at 1:00 p.m.

I am pretty sure that these games are the wrap-up for the Spring Season for anyone that wants to get out and see one final game before the summer.

And the winners are...

Check out the National Invitational Tournament website for the full results and standings. As this is the Wisconsin U19 site, we have to say congratulations to DSHA (#1) for thier 13-6 victory over Kent WA in the Cup final AND Vernon who placed 3d with a hard fought (17-10) victory over Summit (CO). I know DSHA gets a lot of ink, but Vernon should be very proud of this 3rd place finish in a difficult tournament.

Brookfield placed 4th after a difficult loss to City Honors/Genesse (NY) 25-12 in the 3rd place math of the Plate division. The Plate division ended with an all Oregon final as West Linn downed Canby 24-10.

I didn't get to see as many matches as I would have liked, but the matches I saw were exciting. The final round of the Cup division was a particularly close game. The DSHA/Kent game saw some great pressure and defense by both teams. After trading penalty kicks early in the first half, with the score 3-3, the match was at issue for sixty-minutes. Both teams had some tough goal line stands. In the end, DSHA punched through two unconverted tries to win the day, but not without a fight.

Now it's time for all the other teams in Wisconsin to start preparing for the Fall and a chance to knock DSHA out of the running before the next National Tournament.

Results from Spring of 2007...so far

This is a list of all the reported scores for the WI Girls teams from the Spring 2007. Keep in mind that the spring season is a non-conference season, so not all scores get reported. (I know I am missing some games in here..so if anyone wants to fill me in that would be great). Also, these reports exclude the games played by Northshore on its tour to California and DSHA, Vernon and Brookfield at the Mid-west Tournament and NIT. (However, if you follow the links to the relevant websites, all the tournament scores are available).

But, given those limitations, here is a summary of the spring season to date (winning team in bold)

Pre-Season

Northshore Trip to Littleton International Tournament.

Week 1
DSHA v. Northshore 20-10
Verson v. DSHA-B (score not reported)

Week 2
DSHA v. Brookfield 63-0
DSHA-B v. Brookfield-B 24-0
Wayzata (MN) v. CMH 17-14
East Metro v. CMH B 24-0

Week 3
Vernon v. KM 32-5
Vernon-B v. Brookfield 5-12
Northshore v. Muskego 15-5

Week 4
Vernon v. Fond du Lac 25-12
DSHA v. Fond du Lac 39-0
CMH v. St. Charles (IL) 51-0
CMH-B v. St. Charles (IL) 10-12
Northshore v. KM 19-0
Northshore v. Brookfield 0-0
KM v. Brookfield 5-12

Week 5
Muskego v. Vernon 5-39
Brookfield v. CMH 19-14
Brookfield-B v. CMH-B 5-47
Northshore v. Vernon 0-10
CMH v. Muskego 45-5

Week 6

Midwest Girls Rugby Chapionship.

Week 7
Vernon v. Brookfield 59-5
KM v. CMH 32-21

Week 8
National Invitational Tournament.

Those are the scores that I have for matches played up until May 18 for the Spring 2007 season... If I missed reported (or missed) any scores, let me know. I will admit that because of the shifting dates for games this season the week by week break-down is really just to make the list more reader-friendly.

Midwest Girls Rugby Chapionships

It has been awhile since this blog has been updated. I've been swamped and a lots has been going on. But, here are some quick updates. Brookfield won a very close 3-way tournament to qualify as the #3 Wisconsin seed to represent Wisconsin in the open bracket at the Midwest Tournament. The 3-way tournament came down to a tie between Brookfield and Northshore witht he 3rd place finish decided by penalty kicks.

While I owe a whole entry to that event because it was so exciting, the big news is the results from the Midwest Girls Rugby Chapionship. Vernon and DSHA represented Wisconsin in the Tournament and both teams progressed through the brackets undefeated. In the final round, DSHA defeated Vernon 36-0 in the all Wisconsin finals. Congratulations to our Wisconsin teams on another outstanding Midwest Tournament.

We are all looking forward to a chance to cheer on our Wisconssin clubs in the National Tournament on May 19-20th here in Franklin, WI.

Deciding Wisconsin's #3 Seed

Last season ended in a three way tie for 3rd place between Northshore, Brookfield and Kettle Moraine, with all three teams having a 4 and 3 record. The tie occurred because Brookfield defeated KM 29-10; Norhshore defeated Brookfield 30-7; and KM defeated Northshore 15-14.

The application of the experiminatal point system would have ranked Northrhore 3rd, Brookfield 4th, and KM 5th, but the rule was not in place at the start of the season. The pont system awards a team 4 ponits for a win; 2 points for a tie, and 1 bonus point for scoring 4 or more trys in a match; and 1 bonus point for losing by less than 7 points.

In the spirit of sportsmanship and competition, the coaches agreed to a one day, round-robin tournament this spring to see who will be Wisconsin's #3 seed. The games will be held at Nagawaukee Park, April 22, starting at 11:00 a.m. The winning team will emerge with bragging rights and the will represent Wisconsin in the open division of the Midwest tournament.

It is going to be an exciting day of rugby at Nagawaukee.

Vernon.... still a strong #2

As reported by the sir, Vernon defeated Kettle Moraine (a #3 finisher last season) this past Friday, 32-5. Vernon demonstrated that it's #2 position from the Fall is well-deserved as it heads towards the Mid-West Tournament as Wisconsin's number 2 seed.

Is it possible that Wisconsin will repeat last year's performance where Wisconsin teams captuered the #1 (DSHA) and #2 (Vernon Park) spots in the Midwest Tournament?

Wisconsin should be proud of its repeated success at the Midwest Tournament and the ability of both its #1 and #2 seed to advance in the tournement brackets.

A new up and coming powerhouse...

The spring is always an interesting season. The top teams from the Fall are preparing for runs at Midwest and National titles; there is no structure to the schedule; and teams are trying to train new players, build their base and prepare for the fall conference.

One score from this weekend made me stand up and take note.... Northsore v. Muskego (15-5).

Northsore placed 3rd in the fall and Muskego 6th. This past fall, Northshore downed Muskego 38-0. But rumor has it that Muskego has spent the winter recruiting and building this still young team which now fields 2 full sides. And it certainly seems the efforts have paid-off. Moreover, with Northore's recent success on tour in California, there is no doubt that Northshore put up a fight this past weekend. By narrowing the point difference to 10 points, Muskego is clearly throwing its hat in the ring to be in the top half of the conference this fall.

Muskego may just be the up-and-coming team for the fall conference. As always, the questions for the fall...who is losing seniors and how many?

Congratulations Northshore!

Northshore proved its mettle this weekend by winning the Fullerton International Rugby Tournament in California over the St. Patrick's day weekend. Wisconsin should be impressed by, and proud of, Northosore's success. Here's the coach's description of Northosre's progress in the tournament:

It was an awesome weekend!!!! Yes, we won the tournament!!!

Our touring group was 20 girls but the day before we left 4 had to pull out, because they came down with that ugly flue that was going around, so we traveled light with only 16 girls.

In the very first game my wing broke her arm so we were down to 15 for the rest of the tournament. Before each game the referee would stop by and ask that the subs check in through the table at the side of the field before they would be aloud on the field. My response to this was: "There is no need for that Sir, what you have on the field is what you have". They usually thought I was joking.

Saturday:

Game 1: Northshore Highlanders vs. Coburg East Comets from Ontario Canada 19
- 5 (We scored 3 tries)

Game 2: Northshore Highlanders vs. Cantwell from California 47 - 3 (We scored 7
tries)
Sunday:

Semi-Final: Northshore Highlanders vs. Fullerton Lady Lions from California (Hosting Team) 5 - 0

Final: Northshore Highlanders vs. Surrey Eagles from British Columbia 5 - 0

The girls wanted it really badly and that made the difference. Of the 15 we came home with one broken nose, one with a double hairline fracture in her foot and one with a dislocated finger, which might be broken, she was going in for x-rays today. The rest was all black and blue from the bruises and there was some really nice grass burns, but winning made up for it.

The U19 Girls Season Opening Day

There is still quite a bit of snow on the ground as we move into March. However, opening day for the spring season a little more than a fortnight away. On the weekend of March 24-25, DSHA opens its season with games against both Northshore and Vernon. The Norrhshore/DS match should be an exciting Match up: DSHA will be attempting to shake out the winter cobwebs as it gears up for another run at a national title at the NIT in May. Meanwhile, Northshore will be returning from sunny California and its second appearance in the Fullerton Youth International Rugby Tournament. This warm-weather tournament should provide a good head start on spring-season training for Northshore who finished in a three-way tie for third place in the Fall 2006 regular season play with a 4-3 record. On March 25, DSHA-B side will take on number 2 ranked Vernon. This should prove to be a real test of the DS-B as it encounters Vernon's 7-1 record A side, which is gearing up for its run at a Midwest title, and perhaps more.

Keep posted as we track down the latest match reports.