One of the few times anyone got their hands on Morgan Price. Photo courtesy of Lauren Bratzke
Milwaukee, WI–Hamilton came into the Lakefront 7s tournament hoping to make a push for their first title at the event, but would have to leave satisfied knowing how well they performed in the group stage.
In a group that featured Eagan (2018 state runner-up in MN 15s rugby), Michigan Rugby (a select side featuring Michigan’s top players), and the Carroll Chargers (2018 state champions in IN 15s rugby), there was a chance that none of the teams would have a good enough record to advance to the semi-finals if they all beat up on each other.
Despite the adversity, Hamilton defeated everyone in their group. In doing so, they were spent even before the first whistle of their semi-final tie against the eventual tournament champion, the Iowa Hawkettes, but they never backed down.
The Carroll Chargers also advanced out of the group and defeated Waukesha in the semi-finals before losing to the Hawkettes in the finals.
Hamilton also sent their JV side to the tournament. It was the only JV side at the event, and although they spent much of the day playing varsity and select sides. They fought hard and had an admirable showing. They lost 20-0 to the Freeborn Eagles of MN, 29-0 to the Cobras of IL, and 48-0 to the tournament champion Iowa Hawkettes.
Here are Coach Mac’s notes from the day for the varsity side:
I was most impressed with our defensive play, making tackles and putting pressure, and the best ball movement on offensive I saw all year. Hitting it at pace, being in excellent support, and working the ball around to everyone on the field.
Game 1 against Eagan Girls Rugby:
Tris scored in order:
Morgan Price
Morgan Price
Taylor Fryda
Kenzie Kolesari
Hannah Pfersch
Jessie Endries
with two successful conversation kicks from Hannah Pfersch.
Blue started out their day with a lot of energy, and really beautiful passing support. One of my favorite plays from the game was when Blue was backed up into their try zone and was able to successfully make a stop on defense and earned a 22-meter drop. It was an absolute beautiful little chip kick by Hannah Pfersch out to Morgan Price at the wing for her second try of the game. Great ball movement and office support. A lot of energy was felt from the fans as well, which I really think helped spark the girls into their successful day. A lot of tag parents stayed to watch. It was great. Final Score 34-7
Game 2 against Rugby Michigan:
Tries scored in order:
Morgan Price
Morgan Price
Morgan Price
Alex Werra
Elise Rades
Three successful conversation kicks from Hannah Pfersch.
A beautiful support run and pass by Chloe Miller and Morgan Price started off the scoring for Game 2. Our defense was tested in Game 2 by a faster paced Michigan team, but great tackling in this game helped us to continue to maintain possession on offense and more beautiful ball movement and support play on offense allowed us to continue to work the ball to our outsides for beautiful runs by Morgan Price. Final Score 31-10
Game 3 against Carroll Chargers:
Tries scored in order:
Morgan Price
Elise Rades
Alex Werra
Two successful conversation kicks made by Hannah Pfersch.
My favorite match of the day. Indiana told us at the end of the match that we were the first team to put points on them on the day. They have also been Indiana state champions the last two years. Carroll had great pace on offense, and it was going to come down to making a defensive stop. Our great support on offense has continued, and it really took a team effort to put in all three tries. Kenzie Kolesari had some really big defensive plays in this game. She was aggressive and made a lot of heads up plays on defense that allowed us to get the ball back in our progression. With one minute left in the game, we were down by a try. A line breaking run by Alex Werra beat the defense, and she centered it between the goal posts for a eventual game winning conversation kick by Hannah Pfersch. The sir made the call that play would end at next stoppage, Carroll had possession of the ball and one final stop was needed on defense. Carroll made a run down the sideline to our 22 meter line and a group effort tackle by a few blue ladies took the Carroll player out of bounds to end the game. Great team effort!! Final score: 19-17
Semi-Finals against the Hawkettes:
Tries scored in order:
Chloe Miller
We emptied what we had left in the tank on another hard fought match. Final score: 5-26
Hamilton RFC 