Rain hit the USA Rugby Club 7s Championships and made scoring a little more difficult than some of the teams hopes for in the Women’s Bracket.

As a result, several games were closer than expected, and that opened the door for a few upsets.

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Magic Mountain

The DC Furies entered Nationals with some solid, and deserved, expectations, while no one really knew whether the Rocky Mountain Magic had the goods or not. Rocky Mountain’s opening salvo was a yellow card early in the first half and, right after that, a try for DC.

But from then on, Rocky Mountain’s defense held firm and a Kacy Lorber try, converted by Jessica Dombroski, capped off a 7-5 upset in the second game of the day.

Boston Parties

Scion entered the tournament as one of the favorites, and looked like it as the Mid-Atlantic champion ran out to a 17-0 lead thanks to tries from Jade-Alexandra McGrath, Saskia Morgan, and Lauren Rhode.

But it seemed like Scion took its foot off the gas after that, and Boston perhaps stung by the fact that few had given the club any chance of contesting, reeled off three tries, all by the excellent Kristi Kirshe, (the last one she had no business being able to beat the defenders, but she did), and Deanna Nash converted two for an improbable 19-17 victory.

Atlanta Gets Hot

After losing to New York, the Harlequins faced off with Washington Athletic Club, which included several players who had won a national title with Seattle Atavus last year. WAC fell into the Scion trap, though, thinking a relatively small lead would hold up without too much effort. The Harlequins played a smart, physical game and Chidinma Chukwueke finished off a long, rambling movement to win the game 15-14.

Big Names Step Up

Not every team fell to an upset. The San Diego Surfers reminded everyone why they made the final last year, playing an entertaining brand of sevens and moving the ball better than most.

Stephanie Rovetti scored two tries in the opening two games, the second a 29-0 shutout of Berkeley that pretty much sent everyone a message. That message was then emphasized with another shutout, as Ashlee Byrge paced the Surfers to a 29-5 defeat of the Chicago Lions. Berkeley, meanwhile, took care of ARPTC White and booked a spot in the quarters.

The Life West Gladiatrix played some smooth rugby and blew by Phoenix and Rocky Mountain without too much trouble. The final game of the day wasn’t so easy. Played after a long lightning delay and at least part of the time under a sheet of rain cascading down on everyone, the Life West v DC game turned into a crash-and-bash war. After falling behind, Life West managed to work its way back for two tries and a very difficult 12-7 victory - Nicole Strasko’s try up the middle finally finishing the Furies off. It was tough going, but enough for a 3-0 Day One.

Paced by the leadership and intensity of Jess Wooden, American Rugby Pro’s Blue Team shut out Metropolis and almost did the same to Boston.

Boston, for its part, seemed to have ARPTC in check, and then in the second half disintegrated before a more organized attack.

But coming back from the rain and lightning delays, ARPTC seemed to have a little less jump in its step, and a Scion team angry at its poor opening game made the Blue team pay. Scion’s physicality and teamwork was the better, Kimber Rozier’s defense impressed, and Morgan finished things off for a 22-0 win and a signal that Scion should be ready for Sunday.

The result also opened the door, if only slightly, for Boston to come back. With Scion and ARPTC both at 2-1, Boston could go 2-1 with a win over Metropolis. That’s what happened, but to make the top eight, Boston needed to win by 52 points - they won by seven.

New York Rugby Club had every reason to feel the pressure, but managed to hold off a determined and physical Atlanta team, and then came back to beat NOVA thanks in large part to Shamira Robles. The home team's good fortune continued as Washington Atheltic Club had difficulty containing New York's pace late.

Down 14-5 with about a minute to go, New York got two quick tries from Sarah Levy and never looked back, relegating WAC to the bottom eight.

Matchups

Pool Standings Here

So the Cup Quarterfinal matchups look like this:

New York vs ARPTC Blue

Life West vs Berkeley All Blues

Scion Sirens vs Atlanta Harlequins

San Diego Surfers vs Rocky Mountain Magic

Consolation Quarterfinals:

Boston vs NOVA

Phoenix vs ARPC White

WAC vs Metropolis

Chicago Lions vs DC Furies