Hello from Tropical 7s in sunny Tampa!
North Shore just wrapped up day 1 at the Tampa SportsPlex, a great site with 15 fields of rugby. In addition to sunshine, Tropical 7s features US and international teams in many divisions all the way to U12! It’s great to see the next generation of rugby working on their skills and having a blast.
DAY 1 RECAP
Day 1 started a little flat with a slow first half of our opening game against Phoenix. They are always a tough opponent and some defensive lapses combined with handling errors led to early tries for Phoenix. North Shore charged back in the second half, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to overtake the deficit. North Shore lost its opener 12-22 to Phoenix.
Next, North Shore took on Jamaica. We went up a try in the first few minutes and scored a second time after Jamaica received a yellow card for a high tackle. Speed on the wings from both teams and some incredible defensive tackles from North Shore led to an exciting victory 17-14 over Jamaica.
North Shore's last pool play matchup was against HEB out of Texas. We played in our structure, backed ourselves, and played North Shore Rugby. There was a lot of good ball movement and playmaking from us and we didn't look back. HEB had a couple of tries that weren't converted, netting them 10 points. North Shore's kicking came in clutch with a 100% conversion rate, including one from a difficult angle. Final score 21-10 over HEB.
Head Coach Lauren Trout shared her thoughts on day 1. “I’m extremely happy with the growth and effort from day one. We started the day a little rough but were able to overcome our mistakes and top our pool. Our team is looking forward to taking the learnings from today and putting them into action tomorrow.”
POOL A CHAMPS
Both North Shore and Jamaica ended the day at 2-1, but our grit and fight till the end made the difference. We scored one more try than Jamaica during pool play and that narrow margin gave us the #1 seed heading into Saturday's playoffs. We play the US Naval Academy at 2pm ET on Saturday.
THE TROPICAL 7S SQUAD
North Shore's team for this travel tournament is:
Staff:
Coach: Lauren Trout
Assistant Coach: Noby Takaki
Manager: Stephanie Ramirez
Players:
Kadie Sanford
Olga Niyibizi
Nicole Emerson
Nicole Fisch
Taylor (Memphis) White
Emily (Gnat) Krahn
Lizzy Geary
Tania (Tee) Wheeler
Megan Sanders
Gabby Pennino
Maude Vincent
Mackenzie (Woody) Wood
Thank you and let's go!
Noby Takaki
Assistant Coach