After looking somewhat shaky on day one, the USA women’s sevens team turned things around in startling fashion to finish as runner-up at the Dubai Sevens on Friday.

Seeded No. 8 out of eight teams in the quarterfinals, the Eagles opened the day with a 14-12 win over New Zealand, a team that had beaten them 45-14 on Thursday. But it was a very different story in the USA's second matchup against the defending HSBC World Series champions.

The USA followed up that shocker by knocking off Russia 21-12 in the semifinals before falling 34-0 in the final to Australia.

Quarterfinals: USA 14, New Zealand 12

The Eagles started on the front foot and were able to maintain their defensive shape, despite a couple of early missed tackles. A crucial turnover caused by Alev Kelter kept the Eagles inside the New Zealand 22. The USA tried to exert some physical superiority as it bashed toward the line for several minutes, but eventually Naya Tapper cut back and stretched over for the try. Kelter hit the conversion, and the Eagles led 7-0.

New Zealand worked its way back and put Gayle Broughton through a gap to tie the game 7-7 before halftime.

New Zealand then took a 12-7 lead two minutes into the second half after patiently working the ball to Portia Woodman in space.

The USA took the restart and made a break — Kelter grubbered ahead after seeing there was no sweeper and was almost away except she was taken out of the play illegally. Still, the Americans pressured, and with a little more than two minutes to go, the subs came on for the USA.

About 45 seconds of that time was spent resetting a fairly inocuous scrum, which New Zealand won. But some very aggressive defense by the Eagles, led by Tia Blythe and captain Nicole Heavirland, led to Tapper forcing a penalty. But New Zealand can defend, too, and with half a minute left the Kiwis had a scrum in their own half. 

New Zealand attacked down the left side and kicked ahead, only to have Kelter force a knock-on with 10 seconds left. The final play, then, was a scrum to the USA. Heavirland scampered weak side, and then the USA went wide left. New Zealand was penalized, and Abby Gustaitis and Gray moved forward. From there, while everyone was fanning out, Kelsi Stockert, on as a sub, saw no one was guarding around the ruck or back as a sweeper and dummied before taking off for an 80-meter jaunt that ended with her diving in under the posts. Kelter kicked the extras, and, amazingly, the USA had won 14-12.

It was a shocker to be sure, but clearly the Eagles had fixed something in their defense.  

WHAT A WIN! @USAWomens7s grab a shock win against @BlackFerns at the #Dubai7s to progress to the semi-final where they will face Russia pic.twitter.com/Se7GJxwExt

— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) December 1, 2017

Semifinals: USA 21, Russia 12

The Eagles were a bit too loose with their offloads early in their semifinal, helping out the Russian defense. But it was a poor pass from Russia that gave the USA the ball in the Russian 22 and allowed Kelter to break free for the opening try of the match.

(Kelter made the move because Tapper, on her outside, was in front of the play. The USA's effort in Dubai was punctuated by slight positional issues on attack.)

Kelter then took a smart cutback line on a pass from Heavirland to bust through for her second score, and the USA led 14-0 just like that. Kelter was again a firebrand, pulling the USA team through tackles and setting up another opportunity. However, Russia held the Eagles out of the try zone to close the half.

The second half began with Russia unleashing Elena Zdrokova, who raced sideways and then straight ahead to blow by everyone, for its first try. 

Russia then made it a two-point game thanks in part to an egregious forward pass that was, nonetheless, not called. Marna Kukina’s sideline conversion attempt was going right down the middle but fell short, and the USA held a slim lead, 14-12.

With three minutes to go, the Americans closed out the game by playing patiently and not expecting a try on the first phase. In fact, the Eagles ran nine phases, making ground of every one, before Tapper was dragged down just before the tryline. She lost the ball, but pressure defense from the Americans forced a scrum-five, and from there, Heavirland grabbed the ball at the back of the scrum and raced to the corner. Kelter converted to cap the USA's 21-12 win and set up a meeting with Australia in the final.

Post match: @USARugby captain @kelteralev spoke to us after a toughly fought win in the semi-finals at the #Dubai7s pic.twitter.com/e9ixh571S9

— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) December 1, 2017

Final: Australia 34, USA 0

Australia had crushed England and Canada on its way to the gold medal game. Reaching the final might have been a game too far for the USA, because the Aussies won big, 34-0. The blowout loss wasn’t a pretty end to the tournament for the Eagles, but finishing second after scraping through to the quarterfinals is something to crow about. It certainly showed the USA’s ability to learn and grow.

Kelter was deservedly put on the Dream Team, as she was hugely active on both sides of the ball and kept up that intensity all weekend. But perhaps Stockert can revel in that special game-winning moment a little, too.

New Zealand rebounded, naturally, to take the next two games and finish fifth. Russia surprised Canada to win the bronze medal.