Club 7s – July 2025 Recap

We’re back with another monthly recap wrapping up the end of our regional sevens play across the US. We’ve got the final 32 teams* who are going to participate at Club Nationals, and in this article we’re going to go over what they did to qualify (either as regional winners or At-Large). 

Now we don’t yet have the seeding or the pools for Nationals, but we will cover that in a Nationals prep article coming out in the next week or so – keep your eye out for that. 

Without further ado, let’s jump into what happened in July in the USA Club sevens space!

We’ll start with the action up in the Pacific Northwest! We left off halfway done with the qualification series, and have two qualifiers that happened in July, Chuckanut CanAms and Portland Rugby Club 7s to recap.

Heading into the Chuckanut CanAms on the men’s side of the competition, WAC Black (1) had a confident lead on the competition, with the first final being WAC White (2) versus Black and the second a 40-7 romp over the Sharks. The competition was split into two pools with WAC Black facing the Chuckanut Bay Geoducks, the Eastside Axemen, the Oregon Sharks, and the Bayside Sharks. WAC White took on the Seattle Barbarians, the Yakima Griffins, and the Huna Hoggs. WAC Black opened with a 33-14 win over the Geoducks while the Oregon Sharks sliced through the Axemen 49-0. Yakima and Seattle Barbarians both won big in their opening matches, defeating the Hoggs and WAC Black. Then it got interesting. The Oregon Sharks tied WAC Black 10-10 and the Griffins fell to WAC White. At the end of pool play the Seattle Barbarians were on top 3-0, followed by WAC Black and Oregon Sharks both at 2-0-1, and WAC White at 2-1. This set WAC against WAC in the semis while the Sharks took on the Barbarians. WAC took out their seconds while the Sharks and Barbarians fought to the death to qualify for the final. In the end it was the Sharks who handed the Barbarians their first defeat of the day 24-19. Ah, a rematch of the 10-10 tie for the final, it couldn’t be written any more dramatically than that. WAC came to the last match prepped, primed, and ready to attack, they defeated the Oregon Sharks to claim their third title of the season, and essentially wrap up the automatic qualification despite what would happen in Portland.

One final tournament to play, and this time NorCal sent some teams up to play. WAC, the Sharks, and the Barbarians were joined by Life West and Santa Rosa rugby clubs, searching for some competitive play to pad their At-Large applications. Both teams clearly showed up to actually play as they topped their respective pools 3-0. WAC were shocked by Life West in the opening match, losing 42-5 to the Gladiators. WAC 2 fared better against Santa Rosa, scoring twice to Santa Rosa’s three. Both WAC sides failed to make the semifinals after their Black side lost 21-15 to the Sharks, who qualified and faced Santa Rosa in the semi. Life West took on the Seattle Barbarians in the other semi. The Gladiators kept their steam train a runnin’ as they demolished the Barbarians 36-7. The Sharks fought valiantly against Santa Rosa, but in the end it would be an all-NorCal final as Santa Rosa beat Oregon 19-12. Life West finished off the day beautifully with a resounding 42-12 win over Santa Rosa in the final, while the Sharks blanked the Barbarians in the third place match. WAC tore through ORSU 43-0 in the plate final, to get “third” in the standings overall as both Life West and Santa Rosa could not collect qualifier points. Thanks to their results from the first three tournaments, WAC Black automatically qualified out of the Pacific Northwest as the lone men’s seed. However, they will face friendly faces in Wisconsin as Life West has also qualified At-Large. 

On the women’s side of the competition, we last left off with the Oregon Sharks and WAC each claiming a tournament win, tied on competition points heading into the tail end of the season. First opportunity to break the tie was Chuckanut CanAms. This time WAC and Oregon would have a new team to face as the Berkeley All Blues came to play. The All Blues weren’t eligible to collect qualification points from the series as they represent NorCal, but they could participate to gain credibility for their own At-Large bid. The pools shook out with the All Blues facing WAC Black (1), Seattle Rugby Club, and the Chuckanut Bay Mussels. Meanwhile the Oregon Sharks faced WAC White (2), Viking Mussel Inc, and a motley side. The All Blues opened their tournament with a strong 36-0 defeat of the Mussels while WAC topped Seattle 45-0. The Oregon Sharks and WAC 2 also looked strong, blanking their opponents in the opening games. The second round of pool matches brought some spice to the table. The All Blues surprised WAC with a 22-12 defeat while the Mussels topped Seattle 19-12. The motley side also snatched a win over Viking Mussel Inc, 15-12. Not much of a surprise that WAC Black and White both made the semifinals with the Oregon Sharks and the All Blues, who both finished pool play undefeated. This put WAC against the Sharks while the All Blues faced WAC 2. In a rematch of the last two finals, WAC and the Sharks battled down to the wire, with WAC eventually pulling ahead 26-22. The All Blues took down WAC 2 to play against WAC 1 in the final. Since the All Blues were ineligible for PNW qualifier points, WAC took the full points over the Sharks who finished third on the day, but second in qualification points. 

It was all down to the final qualifier of the year, Portland 7s. With WAC one win ahead of the Sharks, there was nothing that could make this more interesting, until something did. Both teams were rattled the weekend before when the All Blues came to play, but this time there was a new friend in town, Life West made the trek from NorCal to get some games in. The pools were split with the Sharks taking on Life West, WAC 2, and ORSU while WAC 1 faced Tsunami, the Sharks 2, and Salem. Life West kicked open the gates to start the tournament with a 50-0 rout of ORSU. However, their luck was short lived as they fell 24-12 to the Sharks in the second round. They did finish with a 10-point win over WAC 2 to qualify for semifinals, taking on WAC 1. The Oregon Sharks finished 3-0 in pool play taking the top seed into the semis. On the other side of the competition it was a bit more cut and dried, WAC 1 soared through without a point scored against them while Tsunami finished 2-1 after a narrow 17-12 win over Salem to open their day. The semifinals brought the heat as WAC and Life West went down to the final whistle, WAC nudging over a final conversion to win 19-17. The Sharks qualified for their third final of the season after a confident 31-7 win over Tsunami. It was down to the Sharks versus WAC for the final game. WAC sat above the Sharks in the standings, but if the Sharks could win, they would pull even on qualifier points. With everything on the line, the Sharks pulled out all the stops and made their mark, defeating WAC 19-7 to claim their second title of the season. With WAC and the Sharks tied on points, it came down to the head to head results. WAC had two more wins over the Sharks thanks to one in pool play the opening tournament of the season and the other the semifinal of Chuckanut CanAms. This meant WAC qualified as the automatic bid, with the Sharks appropriately being awarded an At-Large place in the National Championship. Both teams will travel to Wisconsin in August to show what the PNW is all about.

Down the coast in Southern California we had Surf and Turf 7s and Eagle Rock 7s to close out the qualifiers. 

In the men’s competition, the last qualifier was Rockfest 7s hosted by (you guessed it) Eagle Rock. Entering the weekend, Belmont were 2-0 in tournament wins, both times beating Eagle Rock in the final match. Without full scores, we do know that Belmont finished top of the SoCal teams, followed by Eagle Rock, Belmont 2, and Oceanside. This automatically qualified Belmont to Nationals to defend their title, while Eagle Rock will go as an At-Large seed. 

The Southern California women’s teams had two qualifiers left to play, first up being Surf N Turf 7s hosted by the San Diego Surfers. San Diego fielded three full sides in addition to Pasadena, the Santa Monica Dolphins, and the WC Marines. Without the full scores, we know that San Diego’s competitive side won the tournament, adding the trophy to three total this season. This solidified their automatic qualification to Nationals, with only one tournament left to play. The final qualifier was Eagle Rock 7s in Pasadena, CA. Unfortunately no scores from this one either, but we confirmed that San Diego automatically qualified for Nationals as the lone women’s SoCal representative.

Next up we head to the Frontier/Rocky Mountain region to check in on the teams after participating at the Fountain City 7s in Kansas City.

In the men’s competition, the Denver Barbarians climbed to an early lead in the standings at Denver 7s and planned to defend their bid to Nationals in Kansas City. They were placed in Pool A alongside the Omaha GOATs and Kansas City Blues B. On the other side of the bracket were the home team KCRFC, KC Blues, and the Denver Barbos B. As fate would have it, the day opened with a 19-19 tie between the Omaha GOATs and KC Blues B, a sure sign of exciting things to come. The Blues and Barbos traded blows, each first side defeating the second. The Barbos finished 2-0 in pool play after a 22-0 defeat of the GOATs, as well as the KC Blues who got the jump on KCRFC 36-14. All six teams went into the playoffs, with the 2nd and 3rd seeds from each pool going head to head in a play-in while the top two got byes into the semifinals. This set up KCRFC against the GOATs and the KC Blues B against the Barbos B. KCRFC narrowly snuck by Omaha 17-10, while the Blues and Barbos got caught up in a 31-19 barn burner, Barbos taking the spoils. So it was Barbos versus KCRFC and Barbos B vs KC Blues for the semifinals. The semis had near identical scores, with the rested teams taking the win by two or three tries. Again, proof that while pool play doesn’t indicate everything, it sure helps when it comes to the business end of the tournament. With a ticket into the final, and KCRFC in the third place match, Denver had guaranteed their automatic bid to Nationals. This didn’t stop them from strutting their stuff and sealing the deal with a 19-12 defeat of the Blues in the final. KCRFC managed to finish their season off on a high with a 21-19 win over the Barbos B for the bronze. Unfortunately for the Kansas City-based sides, Denver is the only men’s team from the Frontier region to head to Wisconsin; however if the Barbarians trend at Nationals continues, they will hopefully come home with another bronze or better.

Fountain City 7s also played host to our Frontier women’s sides, giving us a good first look into the Colorado Grey Wolves, the KC Patriots, and the KC Jazz. The three teams were joined by a motley side, aptly named “The Willing”, who put enough bodies on the pitch for a few games that weren’t counted to the final standings. Outside of The Willing, each team played the other before reseeding, with the top two heading into a final match. Colorado convincingly won their opening match of the day 41-0, before falling to the KC Patriots 21-17. The Patriots also managed to secure a 27-10 win over the KC Jazz to finish undefeated in pool play. The final was a rematch between the Grey Wolves and the Patriots, this time falling heavily in Grey Wolves favor, as they blanked KC 34-0. All in all a curious day, with the Patriots proving strong in pool play, but faltering in the final. Colorado will represent Frontier as the automatic bid.

In the Midwest region, we had the final two stops of the Midwest 7s which provided a thrilling close to the three-stop series.

For the men, the St. Louis Bombers entered as the top seed into round 2 after defeating Detroit in the opening tournament. This put them in a pool with the Grand Rapids Gazelles, Invictus B, and the Indianapolis Impalas. Detroit took on the Bombers B, Invictus, and Columbus B. The third-place Chicago Lions were back, as well as the Cincinnati Wolfhounds who both entered their respective pools as the top seed. Things went as expected in pool play, with the added addition of the Indianapolis Impalas making an impressive showing, going 2-1 before defeating the Lions B in the 5th place match 19-14. The Tradesmen had a scare against the Bombers B in pool play, just managing to sneak out with a 26-22 win. Columbus also shone on the big stage, as they stormed through pool play in order to qualify for their first semifinal of the season. In the semis, the Bombers took on Columbus while the Lions faced Detroit. St. Louis kept up their winning ways, blanking Columbus 19-0, while the Lions put in an impressive shift to take down Detroit and qualify for their first final of the season. However, in the final it was all St. Louis, as the Bombers executed a clinical defeat of the Lions to take their second Midwest 7s title 29-7. The Tradesmen defeated Columbus in the third place match to keep tied in the standings with the Lions, who jumped into second place. With one final stop to go, St. Louis were securely in first with the Tradesmen and Lions tied for second, Columbus bringing up third. 

Onto the final Championship tournament, held at the Moose Rugby Grounds in Elkhart, IN. Instead of being a closed series, the Midwest Championship tournament was still an open 7s tournament, eligible for any team to come and play. This meant that there were new competitors on the scene for the final stop; not competing for eligibility points, but able to throw a wrench in any team’s preparation. The tournament was also delayed not once but twice due to thunderstorms, adding to the drama. St. Louis had to face both the KC Reds and the KC Blues, along with the Tradesmen B in their quest for semifinal qualification. The Lions took on the Blues, Grand Rapids, and the Bombers B. There were no changes from the top four teams who made it out of pool play, with the Bombers, the Tradesmen, the Lions, and Columbus Rugby all going 3-0 to qualify for the semifinals. After two thrilling semis, the Bombers and the Lions met again in their second final of the season. This time, it was much closer, but after 14 minutes it was again the Bombers on top for a clean sweep of the Midwest. The Lions finished second, while the Tradesmen defeated Columbus to secure third. Fortunately for the top three, they all qualified for the National Championship in Madison, WI in two weeks’ time. 

For the women’s competition, the 2023 National Champions, the Chicago Lions, had been split into two equally competitive sides. In the opening tournament of the season, Chicago North Shore surprised both Lions’ sides by taking the win in overtime. Now with their rosters set and no time to go back on their decision, it was down to the final two tournaments for the Lions to make their move and try to get back to Nationals, with a solid North Shore side standing squarely in their way. In the second tournament in Lemont, IL, the Lions and North Shore were joined by the Toledo Celtics, the Circle City Tempest, Cleveland, and the Cincinnati Wolfhounds. The entire tournament was almost blow for blow identical to the first, with both Chicago North Shore sides and both Chicago Lions sides making the semifinals in a North Shore v Lions crossover. This time however it was the Lions White who faced North Shore B in the semi, eventually securing their place in the final. The Lions Black (who played in the first final) lost their semifinal to North Shore A, and played for third. The final was another back and forth affair, with both teams trading leads. At the final whistle it was North Shore who nosed ahead, 26-19 over the Lions, to take their second title of the series. The Lions Black soundly defeated North Shore B in the third place match to pull even in the standings with the Lions White. 

One final tournament to play, at Moose Rugby grounds in Elkhart, IN. North Shore had all but wrapped up the top seed, if they made it to the final they were in, regardless of the result. Since both Lions teams were tied in the standings, it was down to the final tournament to see who got second and who got third. This time, a new team showed up to scramble the standings. Select-side Atlantis got wind of the big tournament and came to flaunt their prowess. The Women’s tournament would be a full six-team round robin, with all teams playing each other once. Due to the thunderstorm delays, the final wasn’t played, with North Shore forfeiting to the Lions Blacks, having already secured their automatic bid. The Lions White claimed third, and Atlantis fourth. This left the final standings with North Shore in first, securing the automatic bid to Nationals in Wisconsin. Unsurprisingly, the Chicago Lions will be joining them after being awarded an At-Large bid; expected after their impressive run and toe to toe competition with North Shore all season.

With two-thirds of the qualifiers covered in June, only one remained for the Red River teams, Hell or High Water 7s in Houston, TX. 

In the men’s competition, the Austin Huns led the way, claiming titles at both of the previous qualifiers after defeating the Austin Blacks. It gets a bit dodgy though as at Hell or High Water, both the Dallas RFC and the Austin Blacks submitted ineligible rosters, thus denying them the opportunity to gain qualification points at this event. This meant that the Austin Huns automatically qualified just by showing up. Now, we could just end the recap there, but there’s some more exciting news in the Red River region so we’re going to dive in a bit deeper. As to be expected, the Huns, the Blacks, the Reds, and Quins went undefeated in pool play. The Quins had a bit of a close call against the Reds 2, but managed to work their way out of it, taking the win 14-7. Straight into the semifinals, the Blacks took down the Quins 24-5 while Dallas beat the Huns 29-14. Again, remember Dallas and the Austin Blacks were playing ineligible rosters, so perhaps a massive upset on the scoresheet, but nothing as far as qualification points were involved. The Huns beat the Quins for third, and Dallas forfeited the final, allowing the Blacks to take the crown. A wild end, but not out of the blue for a tournament that started at 8am and had the final at 7pm. With the Austin Blacks and Dallas out of the picture, it was the silent but deadly Dallas Harlequins who snatched the At-Large bid for the Red River region, scheduled to join the Austin Huns up in Wisconsin.

Over on the women’s side, the Dallas Harlequins were the frontrunners heading into Hell or High Water. They certainly made a statement with their opening match of the day, defeating the sHARCs 50-0, and followed it up with blankings of the Dallas RFC, the sHARCs 2, and the Austin Valkyries. Quite the dominant performance. Also looking strong were the HEB women, who stacked 49 against the Valks 2, 41 and 48 on Gorilla (they played twice). Only in their last pool play match of the day did HEB allow in tries, beating the sHARCs 26-10. Unsurprisingly the final went between HEB and the Lady Quins. With their total domination and top points from earlier qualifiers, the Quins had already secured their automatic berth to Nationals, but HEB still had something to prove. The Hurricanes surprised the Quins, bagging the Hell or High Water Championship and an At-Large bid to Nationals all in one weekend.

Up in the Mid-Atlantic we had two tournaments, one of which was rained out halfway through, but we’ve solidified bids to Nationals.

Last we left off on the men’s side, NOVA were looking good with two titles to their name, while Beltway Elite and Schuylkill River were nipping at their heels in second and third. With two tournaments left to play, anything could happen. The first stop  was Christmas in July 7s hosted by James River. The tournament was suspended midway through the day due to weather, meaning no official qualifier points were awarded. We only have four games that did take place, so we’ll dissect them and then sit and muse on what that means. First up, NOVA blanked Beltway Elite 2, not super exciting since Beltway Elite 2 isn’t going for Nationals qualification. Beltway Elite also blanked Beltway Elite 2, again expected. The last two are exciting; NOVA beat Schuylkill River 17-14 and Schuylkill beat Beltway 24-21. NOVA was confidently in first last month and Schuylkill started rocky. However in the second tournament Schuylkill started gaining speed, and it looks like they are on the up and up. Now it looks like all three teams are on even playing ground entering the tail end of the season, and just in time for qualification. 

The final tournament for MAC qualification was Schuylkill River 7s at the end of July. No scores from this one, but NOVA finished on top and undefeated after a stellar season in the Mid-Atlantic. They qualified as the automatic bid, and will be joined by fellow Mid-Atlantians Beltway Elite and Schuylkill River who qualified At-Large. 

Checking in on the women’s competition, Scion certainly made their statement with the first two tournament wins, allowing only a handful of tries in two clean sweeps. Raleigh, Phoenixville, and Philadelphia all looked strong as well, throwing their hats into the ring for At-Large bids to the National Championship. The teams all gathered at Christmas in July 7s, hosted by James River, but were only able to play one or two games apiece as the tournament was paused due to rain and ultimately suspended midway through pool play. This meant that no official qualifier points were earned by any team. However, we do have some scores! Scion went 2-0 over Phoenixville and Philly, while Raleigh pulled ahead over NOVA 14-12 then fell to Phoenixville 26-19. Philly and NOVA only got to play once each, not giving us a great look into what we know they are capable of. Ultimately, not a lot to take out of this, except validation that Scion is still alive and kicking.

The final qualifier was Schuylkill 7s in Malvern, PA. Scion were out of office during this one, attending the USA doubleheader in the DC area. Instead North Bay stepped up and filled their slot. Philadelphia relished the open competition and went 5-0 on the day, defeating Phoenixville in the final. Meanwhile NOVA and Raleigh battled it out for third place. At the end of the series, Scion qualified as the automatic seed thanks to their two first place finishes in June, and Philadelphia and Phoenixville qualified At-Large. 

Let’s head south to check out one of the hottest regions of the USA, a region where summer sevens is synonymous with 100% humidity and 90 degree temps. 

We only covered one of the two Men’s qualifiers in the last article, so plenty to catch up on. Life secured a good start to the competition, followed by Atlanta Old White [AOW] in second, and Birmingham in third. First up was Tennessee 7s on July 12th hosted by Knoxville Rugby. Reasonably straightforward, all four qualifier teams in one pool played a round robin followed by a 1v2 Championship match. Both AOW and Life started off with solid wins over the Blitzbirds and Birmingham respectively. However, in the second round things started to get spicy, Life took down Birmingham, but the Blitzbirds managed to top AOW by a conversion kick, putting them into a good spot to make the final. In the final round, both games were incredibly close. AOW had to beat Life in order to make it to the final, and they came within a conversion. They still had a chance if Birmingham were able to topple the Blitzbirds, but St. Pete won that one 19-12. This set up a Blitzbirds vs Life final while AOW took on Birmingham for third, a rematch of the first round of pool play. It was a bit of a disappointing end to such an eventful day, with Life and AOW both cruising to 10-point wins, but the Blitzbirds took second to tie AOW overall on point spread and Life extended their lead as front-runners for the automatic bid.

With Life solidly in the lead, we headed into the final qualifier – Hotlanta 7s hosted by Old White. Six teams entered, split into two pools of three – Old White in Pool B joined by the Trybabies and the Blitzbirds (St. Pete/Bay Area seemingly love the name change) and Life taking on AOW Development and Birmingham in Pool A. In a shock start to the day, Life fell to AOW Development 12-10. This blew the gates wide open, if Old White or St. Pete could get first while Life tanked, they had a chance of tying for first on qualifier points. Old White steamed through pool play 35-12 over the Trybabies and 19-7 over the Blitzbirds to get the bye into the semis. AOW Development also continued their hot streak, defeating the Birmingham Vulcans 17-12 to top their pool. By the time the play-in quarters came around, Life turned the tables, demolishing the Trybabies 33-7. The Blitzbirds and the Vulcans went back and forth, the Blitzbirds finally finding an edge to win 19-14. Thanks to AOW Development’s 2-0 run in pool play, Life took on AOW in the one semi, while AOW Development played against the Birmingham Vulcans. The Vulcans put out a surprise attack, handing AOW Development their first loss of the day 12-10. Meanwhile Life looked to be back on track as they took down AOW (in a repeat of the first qualifier final) 14-7. With Life versus Birmingham in the final, it was guaranteed that Life were representing as the South region’s automatic bid, regardless of the final result. However, Life weren’t going to let the opportunity to get one more tournament win go to waste, they smashed the Vulcans a resounding 45-0 to emphasize their place on top as the Kings of the South. Unfortunately for AOW and the Blitzbirds, Life will be the only seed representing the Men’s South region at Nationals.

On the women’s side of the competition we had two qualifiers, the first of which we covered back in June. Hotlanta 7’s would be the decider, with Atlanta 2.0 Selects in the best position to take down points-leader Phoenix in pursuit of the automatic qualification. The Women’s Competitive bracket had two pools of three, with Phoenix taking on Fort Miami and the Atlanta Harlequins while the 2.0 Selects faced Orlando and non-qualifying Faith Family Rugby (who won the Red River’s first qualification event). With Faith in the mix, no team was safe. Atlanta 2.0 dropped their first match 21-0 and Orlando followed 38-7. Atlanta 2.0 managed to blank Orlando in the last pool play match in order to qualify for the quarterfinals, but it was Faith who took the bye into the semis. On the other side, Phoenix cruised on as expected, taking down the Quins 34-0 and Fort Miami 24-12 to earn their place in the semis. Forced through the quarters, the 2.0 Selects had to take on the Quins to qualify for the semis; a task they accomplished 19-0, but yet another game played in the Atlanta heat and humidity. In the other match, it was a back and forth nailbiter as Orlando faced Fort Miami; Fort Miami eked out that win 17-14. The semis saw Phoenix taking on the 2.0 Selects, a rematch of the Gulf Coast final; while Faith battled against Fort Miami. Well rested from the bye, both Phoenix and Faith cleaned up, earning their way into the final. As the only qualifier team in the final and by winning the first qualifier, Phoenix had secured the automatic bid regardless of the final outcome. Whether this was a factor in the final score, we can’t be sure, but Faith pulled ahead to secure the win 14-5, taking home the Hotlanta trophy. Phoenix will head to Nationals as the South’s automatic qualification bid, and after a 14-5 win over Fort Miami in the third place game, Atlanta 2.0 will go to Wisconsin as an At-Large team.

Our last region is the Northeast, which had two qualifiers in July, Saratoga and Old Blue 7s. 

Old Blue went 2-0 at the opening qualifiers, both times defeating a strong Mystic side in the final. Entering Saratoga as the top seed, Old Blue were placed in a pool with NYAC, Mystic 2, and Saratoga. Mystic drew White Plains, Old Blue 2, and Long Island. Old Blue went 3-0, allowing only one try in their first match against NYAC. In an opposite start to their day, Mystic almost dropped their opening game against White Plains, managing to find the win in the final minute 22-17. Their next two games went smoother, with confident defeats to allow them to also finish 3-0. The rest of the teams in Old Blue’s pool went 1-2 as Saratoga defeated Mystic 2, Mystic 2 defeated NYAC, and NYAC defeated Saratoga. It came down to point differential, and NYAC qualified for semifinals as the second seed from their pool. White Plains kept on their front foot for the rest of pool play to qualify for semis as a strong second seed behind Mystic. This set Old Blue against White Plains and NYAC against Mystic for the semis. Mystic soundly defeated NYAC, while Old Blue had their hands full with an impressive White Plains side. In the end Old Blue would pull through, but it was a lot of hard work that they probably didn’t expect after their first two tournament wins. Again we had Mystic and Old Blue going head to head in the championship match. Perhaps Old Blue were tired from their semifinal run out, or maybe Mystic just started to put the pieces together come crunchtime, but the tables were turned in that final match. Mystic ran out to an early lead and just couldn’t be caught, raising their first Qualifier Championship with a 19-5 defeat of Old Blue. White Plains finished their epic run with a strong win in the bronze over NYAC, while Mystic 2 and Old Blue 2 put on a thriller in the plate final, Old Blue 2 capturing victory by only a conversion kick.

One final qualifier to go, at the home of Old Blue. Despite the early lead that Old Blue took, Mystic were one championship win away from tying Old Blue in the qualification. White Plains was also in a great position to upset one or both of them, their season build being evident the weekend before. This time, on home turf, Old Blue didn’t hold back. They dominated their way through pool play and eventually won big in the final 36-5. Mystic made it to their third final of the tournament after a 21-10 win over White Plains in the semifinal. White Plains finished their season off on a high after defeating NYAC in the bronze match, taking third overall in the Northeast standings. Both Old Blue and Mystic River will make the trip to the National Championship in Wisconsin, Old Blue as the automatic bid, and Mystic River At-Large. 

For the women, Saratoga was the final qualifier of the season..All five teams played each other in a round robin before the top two went straight into the Championship match. Teams in attendance were NYRC 1 and 2, Boston, Albany, and the Rochester Renegade Smoke. As has happened a number of times this season (seriously I think we’re up to four), the day opened with a 19-19 tie between NYRC and Albany. Rochester Renegade Smoke won big over NYRC 2 and Boston defeated Albany in their tournament opener, starting where they left off. NYRC got their first win over Rochester 20-12 and Boston defeated NYRC by almost the same score in the next match. Albany secured their place in the final thanks to a 28-12 win over the Rochester Renegade Smoke. Boston went undefeated, taking the top seed into the final. Boston were able to hold Albany scoreless in the final, scoring three tries of their own to win the tournament and the automatic bid in one fell swoop. 

*Great article Kat, really compelling stuff, but honestly I don’t have the time to read this. Who qualified?

Here are all the qualified teams:

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