2019 Women's Premier League (WPL) Season Begins Saturday

The Women’s Premier League (WPL) kicks off the 2019 Fall season on Saturday with ORSU vs Berkely,

In the 2018 WPL Championship, the San Diego Surfers defeated Glendale 34-28, New York won the bronze with a 35-15 win over Twin Cities Amazon. Berkeley All Blues claimed 5th place with a 39-5 win over ORSU, Atlanta beat Chicago North Shore 42-7 for 7th place, with Beantown beating the DC Furies for 9th place.

A challenge match was then played with Life West defeating 10th place DC Furies to join the competition in 2019.

WPL commissioner Milla Sanes painted this fall’s competition as “same but exciting,” relative to last year. The WPL All-Stars featured in the Women’s All-Star Week final and built some momentum for the season. USA Women 15s Head Coach Rob Cain was on-site evaluating talent and will once against embark on a league-wide tour to interact with players and staff and watch games in person. Additionally, the WPL is attempting to make more live-streams available and kicks off the trend with Saturday’s Berkeley vs. ORSU match.

Following the ten-week season, which runs from August 17 through October 27, the National Championship will be held on November 1 and 3. A potential Challenge Match against the 10th place team against D1 Club Champions and/or runners-up will then close out the season.

With Life West joining the WPL, Chicago North Shore has shifted to the East Conference for 2019.

“The league gets stronger every season,” San Diego Head Coach Jarrod Faul surveyed the West. “With the addition of Life West, a very talented group, it certainly makes the West conference a lot tougher and that’s healthy for the women’s game. You drop one or two games in this league and you are in serious jeopardy of missing out on the semifinals. At the end of the day, if you want to be the best you have to beat the best and we are excited about the challenge ahead.”

In the West, Jarrod Faul (Surfers), Adriaan Ferris (Life West), Luke Gross (Glendale), and Anthony Kolanko (ORSU) return as head coaches, João Moura from Portugal takes over for Theo Bennett as head coach of Berkeley All Blues. Gary Gordon of UC Davis has also joined as assistant/forwards coach.

In the East, Rebecca Radtke takes over for Twin Cities, with Roger Bruggenmeyer leaving after all ten seasons. Beantown has tapped the New England Free Jacks for a head coach in USA Eagle Tadhg Leader and his Forwards Coach in Conor Kindregan. Leader replaces Mere Baker. New York retained Tiff Faaee, who replaced Andrew Britt during 2018 in mid-season. Atlanta promoted Ros Chou to head coach from her previous assistant and player role. Chicago North Shore continues to be coached by Parisa Asgharzadeh.

Week one of the WPL kicks off on Saturday, August 17 with ORSU vs Berkeley All Blues available to view through Live Stream. The San Diego Surfers and New York Rugby Club have a welcome bye week as players recover from USA Club 7s Nationals and the National Development Invitation Tournament in Little Rock.

WPL Schedule

August 17 Glendale Merlins vs Life West Gladiatrix 3 pm MT Stream http://www.ustream.tv/channel/rugbytown-usa
August 17 Berkeley All Blues vs Oregon Rugby Sports Union (ORSU) Noon PT Stream https://www.allstarfilmsdvd.org/all-blues-livestream
August 18 Beantown vs Atlanta Harlequins
August 18 Chicago North Shore vs Twin Cities Amazon
August 24 San Diego Surfers vs Glendale Merlins
August 24 Life West vs ORSU
August 24 Atlanta Harlequins vs New York Rugby Club
August 25 Beantown vs Twin Cities Amazon
August 31 ORSU vs San Diego Surfers
August 31 Life West vs Berkeley All Blues
August 31 Twin Cities Amazon vs Atlanta
September 1 New York vs Chicago North Shore
September 7 Berkeley All Blues vs Glendale
September 7 San Diego Surfers vs Life West
September 7 Chicago North Shore vs Beantown
September 8 Twin Cities Amazon vs New York
September 14 Berkeley All Blues vs San Diego Surfers
September 14 Glendale vs ORSU
September 14 Beantown vs New York
September 15 Chicago North Shore vs Atlanta
September 21 Life West vs Glendale
September 21 ORSU vs Berkeley All Blues
September 21 Atlanta vs Beantown
September 22 Twin Cities Amazon vs Chicago North Shore
September 28 Berkeley All Blues vs Life West
September 28 San Diego Surfers vs ORSU
September 29 Twin Cities Amazon vs Beantown
September 29 New York vs Atlanta
October 5 Glendale vs Berkeley All Blues
October 5 Life West vs San Diego Surfers
October 5 Atlanta vs Twin Cities Amazon
October 6 Chicago North Shore vs New York
October 19 San Deigo Surfers vs Berkeley All Blues
October 19 ORSU vs Glendale
October 19 Beantown vs Chicago North Shore
October 20 New York vs Twin Cities Amazon
October 26 Glendale vs San Diego Surfers
October 26 ORSU vs Life West
October 26 Atlanta vs Chicago North Shore
October 27 New York vs Beantown