They make you cheer and they drive you crazy, but the USA Women's Sevens team is into the Cup semifinals after an exciting, and infuriating 28-26 quarterfinal victory over Canada Sunday in Langford, BC.
Canada, on a bit of a downswing of late, started off horribly, and that was in part due to the USA putting the home team under pressure.
Right off the kickoff the USA team rushed the Canadian players, and that forced a miscue from Canada. Naya Tapper rushed in to make a tackle, and then a superb counter-ruck, pickup, and dive from Jordan Gray produced a try for the former BYU star. Alex Kelter, sporting a very visible black eye from Saturday's action, slotted the conversion.
That made it 7-0, and soon it was 14-0 as Kelter smashed a Canadian to the ground after a small breakaway, stole the ball in the ensuing ruck, and then picked up from the base of the next ruck to race in for the USA's 2nd try - which she converted.
Canada replied with a long breakaway from Ghislaine Landry, but once again the Americans replied. A smart series of offloads out of contact set up Kelter for her third and a commanding 21-7 lead.
That lead wasn't enough. Charity William broke through some desultory tackling to score in the corner, and make it 21-12 at the break, and Canada was soon knocking on the door again.
From the kickoff for the second half, the USA knocked the ball on and Kate Zachary, who is experienced enough to know better, picked the ball up from an offside position. Penalty for Canada, and within seconds Bianca Farella was in. Now it was 21-19.
But Canada looked to give the momentum back. A restart error gave the Americans a free kick at midfield, only to see the Eagles give the ball away on a bad pass. Back came Canada, only to be stopped by Sarah Buonopane being quick to poach the ball and forcing a holding-on penalty.
Again the Eagles gave the momentum back, getting pinged for a very unnecessary diving-over penalty in the ruck. This time, Canada made them pay,. As the USA came up quickly, Farella was put through a gap and away she went. The kick was good, and with about a minute to go, Canada finally led 26-21.
Finally, though, the Eagles put together a good sequence in which they went sideline-to-sideline. The result was a nice leading pass to Tapper, who had enjoyed precious little space up until that moment. The speedy wing curved around the outside and put the hammer down, scoring on the left side.
So now everyone was tied 26-26, and Kelter was left to hit the conversion. Given that she had slotted 11 out of 12 kicks up until that moment, you have to expect her to come through, and come through she did, punching the ball through the uprights with no time left for the 28-26 victory.
It wasn't pretty, as the USA team made too many errors and failed to capitalize when Canada committed infractions, but it was enough.
The Eagles play in the semis, against New Zealand, who beat England 17-12, at 1:32 PM Pacific Time.
USA 28
Tries: Kelter 2, Gray, Tapper
Convs: Kelter 4
Canada 26
Tries: Landry, Williams, Farella 2
Convs: Landry 3