Despite the already hot climate of Las Vegas, most teams couldn’t handle the heat of the Lake City Falcons girls sevens rugby team at the Las Vegas Sevens last week.
The Falcons dispatched their opposition in the high school girls open division, outscoring their opponents 106-0 on day one of the competition, then winning in the quarterfinal, 29-0, before running into a tough Eastern Ontario Rugby Union squad in the semifinal where they fell 35-7.
“The girls played hard the whole time,” head coach Morley Wilson said. “It was a good tournament.”
The Falcons opened the tournament in pool play with a 27-0 shutout over Texoma (Texas and Oklahoma) Rugby Club. They then hammered the Minnesota Tundra, 38-0, before closing out the day with a 41-0 shellacking of the Flatirons.
“We were ranked No. 1 coming out of pools, then we played No. 8 Atlantis,” Wilson said.
Again, the Falcons proved too much for their international competition where they picked up a 29-0 win in the cup quarterfinal.
The cup semifinal loss granted the Falcons a third-place finish in the tournament.
“It started off close,” Wilson said. “We got a few breaks, they got a few breaks. They had some top Canadian players on their team.”
The tournament, which showcases top rugby talent from around the world in men’s, women’s and boys’ and girls’ high school divisions, also proved valuable to a number of Wilson’s players.
“There was some interest from U.S. universities in our girls,” Wilson said, adding several invites to apply for U.S. scholarships.
Laura Pfleiderer, Carleigh Walters, Taylor Sager and Emma Feldinger were also invited to attend Atavus, a prestigious U.S. rugby camp focused on skill development.
“It was awesome the fact they were getting so much attention,” Wilson said. “It’s nice to be noticed.”
The team is now preparing for a seven-a-side tournament in Cowichan April 15-16. They will then participate in the B.C. Rugby Provincial Championships May 26-28 in Kamloops.