The Women Eagles have fallen to 0-2 in pool play at the Atlanta 7s after losing to Australia 17-0. The U.S. now needs a big results against China in their last pool match and help elsewhere if they are going to claim one of the top two third place spots.
The U.S. started out the match with a good spell of possession but as would happen all game a mis-timed penalty cost them any opportunity. During that spell Vix Folayan, who was starting her first match of the weekend, made a great run but didn't have any support causing her to be pinged for holding on.
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Australia then took over in terms of possession and dominated the rest of the first half. The U.S. defense tried to hold firm but Australia were simply too strong. Their first try finally came roughly three minutes into the match when Saofaiga Saemo touched down in the corner. Australia did well to get the U.S. out of sorts and were easily able to swing the ball out wide. The conversion missed making it 5-0 to Australia.
They would then add to their lead roughly a minute later when Emilee Cherry had a very easy time getting through the U.S. defense for a try. The Australian defense did well to earn a line out which they took quickly to Cherry who had great vision. This time the conversion was good for a 12-0 Australia lead at halftime.
After the break Australia almost immediately added their final try. Charlotte Caslick cut through a very poor U.S. defense for the try. The conversion missed making it 17-0 to Australia. The U.S. did have their opportunities with Folayan breaking out again but was once again penalized without support. Christy Ringgenberg also made a nice move and got to the try line but was unable to put it over. The U.S. recycled but was also unable to score.
With a -48 point differential the Eagles will have to beat China by a big margin and then hope that Japan and the Netherlands suffer big losses in their remaining matches (Netherlands have two, Japan one) if they want to make the Cup quarterfinals. What has to be a major concern to the team is the lack of scoring. They've now been shut out in two straight matches while giving up nearly fifty points. They can still have a good weekend but need to improve in many aspects.
The U.S. plays China next at 7:12 p.m. et/4:12 p.m. et.