USA Women's Rugby Sevens Wins Silver at 2019 Lima Pan American Games

The Lima Pan-American Games Men’s and Women’s Rugby Sevens began July 26 and concluded July 28 at the Villa Maria del Triunfo cluster in Lima, Peru.

The USA Rugby Women’s Sevens team met Canada in the Gold Final losing 24-10 and earning a silver medal. Canada repeated as the Gold Medalist.

In the Bronze Final, Colombia came back to tie the match in regulation time against Brazil before winning 29-24 in extra time.

Day 3 Women’s Rugby Sevens Recap

5th/6th Semifinal: Trinidad & Tobago vs Peru

Host Peru jumped out to a 17-5 lead at the break and won 31-10 over Trinidad & Tobago. Peru will play in the 5th/6th Final while Trinidad & Tobago play for 7th place.

Peru’s Michelle Flores scored two tries with Lieneke Rattoit, Andrea Masias, and captain Rosemary Quesada adding solo ones. Quesada also added three conversions. Trinidad & Tobago’s two tries came from Leah Kintiba.

5th/6th Semifinal: Argentina vs Mexico

Argentina took a 22-0 lead over Mexico at the break and extended it to 32-7 victory. Argentina will play Peru for 5th place, while Mexico plays Trinidad & Tobago for 7th.

Captain Maria Padrozo and Mayra Aguilar scored two tries, while Andrea Moreno and Valeria Montero and solo ones. Yamila Otero added a conversion. It is unclear who scored for Mexico.

Cup Semifinal: Colombia vs Canada

Canada scored four tries in the first half for a 26-0 lead over Colombia. two each by Olivia de Couvreur and Sara Kaljuvee, with Tausani Juvee converting 3 times. During the second half, Couvreur scored her hat trick, Asia Hogan added another down the wide channel and Breanne Nicholas dotted down for the 41-0 win.

It will be a North American Final for Gold as the USA followed with a 33-19 win over Brazil.

Cup Semifinal: USA vs Brazil

The USA scored first from a Naya Tapper offload to Ari Ramsey for the try under the posts making an easy conversion for Alena Olsen. The team extended the lead after a strong run by Ilona Maher with Jordan Matyas finishing with a try, 12-0.

A missed tackle then led to a try by Thalia Da Silva Costa and a conversion by Isadora Cerullo to cut the lead to 12-7 at the break.

The USA struck quickly to begin the second half with a try by Ramsey and a conversion by Olsen to push the lead to 19-7. They then added a try by Emily Henrich to lead 26-7.

Brazil answered back with a try by Bianca Dos Santos Silva, 26-12, before the USA struck back with Abby Gustaitis grounding and Kayla Cannett converting to lead 33-12. Brazil added another try by Dos Santos Silva for a final of 33-19.

7th/8th Final: Trinidad & Tobago vs Mexico

Mexico took a 12-0 lead at the break after ties by Maria Tovar and Karinme Cabrera and a conversion by Isabella Gonzalez-Berazueta. Mexico added two tries in the second half by Jennifer Salomon and Gonzalez-Berazueta for a 22-0 win.

5th/6th Final: Peru vs Argentina

Argentina struck first down the wide channel with Valeria Montero dotting down and Mayra Aguilar slotting the conversion to take a 7-0 lead. Peru answered right back with a try by Melissa Flores under the posts with Paula Pachero knotting the score with the kick. Flores added her second try for Argentina and Josefina Padellaro added the conversion to lead 14-7 at the break.

Argentina continued their momentum with Aguilar scoring a early try, 19-7. Maria Pedrozo then sliced through defenders to lead 24-7.

Peru’s Rosemary Quesada found a seam in the defense for a try, her third during the Games. Gimena Mattus answered right back with a try to push the lead to 29-12. Valeria Montero added a hat trick for a 34-12 victory.

Bronze Final: Colombia vs Brazil

Brazil struck first with a try under the posts from Isadora Cerullo making an easy conversion for Raquel Kochhann. They extended the lead with a try by Mariana Nicolau to lead 12-0.

Colombia answered back with a try by Carmen Ibarra with Maria Maria Isabel Arzuaga converting. Colombia then leveled the match at 12 all after a try by Sharon Acevedo.

With no time before the break, Colombia lost the ball just prior to in-goal. Brazil attacked from deep in their territory with Brazil’s Bianca dos Santos Silva scoring a try and Raquel Kochhann converting for a 19-12 lead at the break.

Brazil added a try by Isadora Lopes in the second half to lead 24-12. Colombia answered back as Maria Lopera found a seam and motored in for a try to cut the lead to 24-17. Colombia attacked again with Isabel Romero held up by Nuculau in-goal. Colombia’s Maria Acevedo then powered her way over for a try after a 5-metr scrum. The pressure was then on Maria Lopera, who slotted the conversion for extra time.

In the overtime period, Colombia earned the Bronze medal after Lopera grounded the ball for the 29-24 victory. It was a huge win over Brazil.

Gold Final: Canada vs USA

Canada struck first as Asia Hogan attacked the wide channel for a try with Breanne Nicholas converting to lead 7-0. The USA answered back with Illona Maher powering her way into Canada territory and offloading to Kayla Cannett for a try to cut the lead to 7-5.

After a yellow card to Olsen, Asia Hogan added another try for Canada to push the lead to 12-5 at the break.

Early in the second half, Ari Ramsey could not finish her run down the wide channel. Credit Canada for driving her into touch and then attacking from a lineout as Hogan finished with a hat trick try.Nicholas then converted, 19-5. Brianne Nicholas scored another after an attempted pick was missed, to put the match out of reach, 24-5.

Ilona Maher added a final try for the USA for a final score of 24-10 to Canada.

With the win, Canada repeated as the Gold medal winner at the Pan American Games. The USA earned silver.

Women’s Rugby Sevens Squads

Argentina: 1 Mayra Aguilar, 2 Jaqueline Corzo, 3 Andrea Moreno, 4 Brisa Trigo 5 Gimena Mattus, 6 Valeria Casas, 7 Yamila Otero, 8 Josefina Padellaro, 9 Florencia Moreno, 10 Mayra Ghenghini, 11 Valeria Montero, 12 María Paula Pedrozo

Brazil: 1 Mariana Nicolau, 2 Eshyllen Coimbra, 3 Rafaela Zanellato, 4 Leila Silva, 5 Thalia da Silva Costa 6 Isadora Cerullo, 7 Aline Furtado, 8 Isadora Lopes,9 Aline Bednarski 10 Raquel Kochhann (C),11 Bianca dos Santos Silva,12 Milena Silva

Canada: 1 Delaney Aikens, 2 Kayla Moleschi (C) 3 Caroline Crossley, 4 Breanne Nicholas, 5 Tausani Levale, 6 Olivia De Couverer, 7 Sara Kaljuvee, 8 Pam Buisa, 9 Asia Hogan,10 Kaili Lukan, 11 Emma Chown,12 Temitiope Ogunjimi

Colombia: 1 Nicole Acevedo, 2 Isabel Romero, 3 Carmen Ibarra, 4 Daniela Alzate, 5 Lina Pedroza, 6 Catalina Arango, 7 Maria Isabel Arzuaga, 8 Leidy Soto, 9 Camila Maria Lopera, 10 Laura Mejía Diosa, 11 Sharon Acevedo,12 Valentina Tapias

Mexico: 1 Michelle Farah 2 Isabela Gonzalez-Berazueta 3 Zoe Tuyu 4 Alejandra Rosales 5 Maria Tovar 6 Jennifer Balomon 7 Vanessa Rodriguez 8 San Juanita Elquezbal 9 Daniela Alvardo 10 Karime Cabrena 11 Bertha Landeros (C) 12 Rosa Rivera

PERU: 1 Michelle Flores Cordero, 2 Natel Correa, 3 Beatriz Orcotoma, 4 Mariagracia Domínguez, 5 Rosemary Quesada Guzmán (C), 6 Sammy Chuquivala Perez, 7 Paula Pacheco Flores, 8 Karoline Vergara Henderson 9 Melissa Vargas De La Jara, 10 Lieneke Ratto Schol, 11 Lucy Granda Alvarado, 12 Andrea Masias

Trinidad & Tobago: 1 Kwanieze John, 2 Carlina Phillip, 3 Aqiyla O’Brien, 4 Maria Thomas, 5 Marika Mendez, 6 Fayola Jack, 7 Blossom Stewart, 8 Kanisha Vincent, 9 Kathleen Stephen, 10 Nicolette Pantor (C), 11 Apphia Glasgow, 12 Leah Kintiba, + Head CoachCarlton Felix

USA: 1 Cheta Emba, 2 Ilona Maher, 3 Abby Gustaitis, 4 Alena Olsen, 5 Stephanie Rovetti, 6 Lauren Thunen 7 Naya Tapper, 8 Jordan Matyas (C), 9 Emily Henrich,10 Kayla Canett, 11 Ari Ramsey, 12 Kristi Kirshe, + General Manager & Head Coach Emilie Bydwell