NY women took on the #2 ranked Minnesota Valkyries and the ITT South Select Side this past weekend on Coney Island, what a way to finish the season...

Last year Atlanta hosted NY, Berkley and Minnesota in the first annual Clam Cup, as a tournament organized for more high level play. This weekend NY hosted 36 players from two other teams, and transported over 40 to and from the pitches and socials for their turn at hosting.

The weekend started off well with hosting NYers taking good care of their charges. At the field on Saturday morning the NY senior side kick off was delayed due to a MN player coming in later. But to keep them busy, Field Operating Officer, Juan, and oversleeper, Katie, participated in the first ever land based individual medley swimming race. A site to be seen! Phaidra “excess energy with a cast”, Steph “metal plate” were on hand to lead the cheering.

NY vs. MN 1st Half

NY came out firing against the Valkyries, who has had their number the past three springs. And what normally started out as 15 minutes of solid play grew to 50 for the Orange and Blue, and it was enough to get the job done.

In a tribute to Kuchar, every lineout call for the Senior Side made reference to her, and to boot the lineouts were hot. Many an easy ball won to let the backs run free and many a MN ball disrupted a lot stolen also.

NY played tough defense making their tackles and winning their rucks. They did a better job at protecting their scrumhalf than in recent weeks but the MN women were aggressive poachers and NY let too much ball get lost. Continuity was big for both sides and NY fought for a long while until the first try came, by Hedwig “How you like it now” Aerts.
Five minutes later, after constant pressure, NY found themselves at the MN goal line and a pass weak by Lee Knight sent Katie “I weigh more than you do…nah nah” MacCallum barreling over for the second NY try. Flyhalf Kristin Baja knocked in both conversions.

The first half would also showcase some great lines from the back and would include a completely unselfish set up pass from Maura “No… you have it” Weikman to Heidi “Now if I slide down right on my elbow how will that feel?” Rubenstein. Hedwig Aerts would pop kick to a running on Keenya Warner for a test to the NY fight and drive for the ball. Carrie “Dubie” Dubray would crash through MN for the last try, three minutes later. NY would end the half 24 to NOTHING.

2nd Half

The second half would see quite a bit of action including three yellow cards. Three minutes in, Lisa “Can we have jerseys that are actually half shirts?” Lake would take a run up the weak side and score fully laid out at the furthest point of the field right at the corner flag like every front row dreams of.

However, that would be the last NY try of the game. Tyshawn Henry would get called for a late hit in the try zone and sent off with a yellow card, as well as put on the sideline with a knee injury. Dominating poaching by MN and hard play by NY would leave 15 minute of unscored time before Lee Knight would take a ride on a MN player’s shoulder in an attempt to qualify for the new nickname “Backpack”. It would be a small roll of three tries total for MN, right up until the 40th minute to show that NY still has work to do to keep a rival out of their end.

A few minutes before the end, NY prop Lisa Lake and MN flanker Krisin Zdan… “Ham” would get counter acted yellow cards for bins and the teams would fight 14 on 14 for a while.
But in the end it was a hearty win of 29-15, over the #2 ranked team, which NY cannot wait to make official come fall championships.

NY vs. South

On the second game of the day NY Development faced an ITT Select Side, made up of many an Atlanta player.

The game would start out much to South’s favor as they slotted two tries in eight minutes, with fast back play. However, NY was not about to roll over. The next 26 minutes were spent in stalemate with NY knocking down the South’s doors. South defended their goal line, and NY could have capitalized with many a try with their dominating driving lineouts and scrums. Finally at the 34th minute Rebecca “I’ll walk 3 miles to play two games” Brafman put it in and Jenny “I love matching outfits” Kuchar would slot the conversion. The sidelines were alive with cheers for the supastars and blue machine!!
Before the half South would get a penalty in front of the posts and take it to bring the score to 7-17.

2nd Half

The second half would start with the NY Development dominating the forwards again. NY won their, and most of the South’s, lineouts, with Audie aggressing across the South line for some spoiled South ball. Jen Epstein would take it across in the first five minutes and with Kuchar’s conversion it would bring NY within challenging distance, 14-17.

However, South would manage to put two more tries in over the best 20 minutes. NY would hold them consistently, giving them a much harder game than they had anticipated, but with a few NY players hitting the injured list and the level of competition South progressed. They found the holes in the NY defense and slipped by. But NY never gave up though and with only two minutes left to play field captain Jenna Bussman would score and leave Kuchar to earn her 112th point! They came out winners even though the score showed a 21-43 loss. They had stood toe to toe with a Select Side team and showed they were meant to be there.

Season

As the official spring season closed up, NY gave the final games on Sunday to their hostees. MN played South on Sunday with quite a few NY players mixed in. Maura Weikman would have a spectacular game playing as MN’s fullback, Jo Lutrell would be ALL over the place as she split time with Lisa Lake in for South as prop. Annie Collier would don the maroon and black for a chance to prop against Laker and Dubie Dubray would see more time at second row…did I miss anyone?

We’d like to congratulate Kuchar on her final New York game and her 112 points. Top points scorers also go to Flateman and Brafman for each scoring 14 tries and Tyshawn Henry for scoring 65 points. Players Jen Epstein and Masako Jennings had perfect attendance throughout the season, never missing anything!!

The senior squad ended with a record of 6-0, scoring 207 points and allowing 26, including two games against top 16 teams where USA players were not available.
The development squad finished the season 9-1, showing they are the heart of the club with 413 points and allowing 68. This brings the total team record to 15-1 and 700 points scored and only 104 allowed!!! Congratulations ladies on a well played season, bring on the BBQ!