WPL Round 2 Recap: Bounce-Back Week
WPL Round 2 Recap: Bounce-Back Week
Three teams bounced back from opening-week losses, while one team advanced to 2-0 in WPL Round 2.

Round 2 of the WPL has concluded, and after two weeks we are down to just two unbeaten teams.
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Life West improved to 2-0, while Glendale, Atlanta, and Twin Cities all rebounded after defeats a week ago to move to 1-1.
Here's how it all went down:
Life West Gladiatrix vs ORSU Jesters
Life West proved last weekend's big win was no fluke. The new kids on the block are already establishing themselves as the toughest kids on the block.
Following last weekend's 43-21 victory over Glendale, the Gladiatrix followed that up with a resounding 55-5 win over the Jesters.
Life West got on the board after just a couple of minutes. A well-worked movement through the hands saw center Jennifer Sever take a short ball on the angle and cut through for an easy score under the posts. 7-0 Life West.
The Gladiatrix second try was very nice. A right-hand scrum near midfield gave them a lot of space to work with, and the Life West women used it to perfection. A couple of cutout passes got the ball wide to Sisileti Hingano, and the fullback swerved in and out en route to the try line. 12-0 Life West after six minutes.
Try No. 3 came through USA Eagle Bitsy Cairns. The flanker got on the end of a series of offloads that went the length of the field. The Gladiatrix players did a lovely job of freeing up their hands in contact to find support runners. 17-0 Life West after 16 minutes.
Hope Rogers, playing No. 8 for this matchup, went full beast mode for the fourth try of the game. The Eagle bust through four would-be tacklers as she rampaged into the tryzone. 24-0 Life West after Karmin Macedo slotted the extras from out wide.

Another Eagle, Nicole Strasko, got on the scoresheet in the 34th minute after she took a skip pass close to the line, split two defenders, and slammed the ball down with some authority to give Life West the 31-0 lead.
The scoring continued for the Gladiatrix in the second half. Hali Deters and Sara Parsons tacked on tries of their own, and Hingano scored twice more to complete her hat trick for the day. She is proving to be a rising star for Life West. Keep an eye on her moving forward.
The Jesters, like last week, scored a late try to salvage something out of the game. They'll need to get it together quickly, or else they could fall out of contention early in this season.
Life West 55
Tries: Sever, Hingano 3, Cairns, Rogers, Strasko, Deters, Parsons
Convs: Macedo 5
ORSU 5
Tries: Yoder
San Diego Surfers vs Glendale Merlins
The Merlins bounced back in a big way from last week's loss to Life West. Glendale traveled out to San Diego to play the Surfers and defeated last year's champions 29-17.
San Diego, however, were the ones to get off to the fast start. USA captain Kate Zackary dotted down after just six minutes and Megan Foster converted for the early 7-0 lead.
But the Merlins responded through fullback Madison Slaught, the Colorado State Ram going over in the 14th minute and Gaby Cantorna converting to level the scores at 7-7.
The next quarter of an hour was tense, with both sides deadlocked on the scoreboard until Slaught went in once more to push the Glendale lead to 14-7.
Right before the half, Merlins and former Eagles scrumhalf Carly Waters scored to extend their lead to 19-7.
Glendale made a host of changes at the break, bringing on five fresh bodies for the second half.
The decision paid off. Shortly after halftime, No. 8 Carmen Farmer scored her first of the season, moving the Glendale lead out to 24-7.
San Diego finally hit back in the 57th minute through flyhalf Megan Foster. The USA 7s Eagle converted her own try and pulled San Diego back within 10, 24-14.
Almost immediately following Foster's try, Merlins hooker Joanna Kitlinksi answered back with a try of her own, showing why she was an important part of the USA Eagles Super Series team this summer. 29-14 Glendale.
Megan Foster added one more penalty in the 69th minute, but that would do it for the scoring. 29-17 Glendale, final.
Glendale 29
Tries: Slaught 2, Waters, Farmer, Kitlinski
Convs: Cantorna 2
San Diego 17
Tries: Zackary, Foster
Convs: Foster 2
Pens: Foster
Atlanta Harlequins vs New York RFC
Atlanta also bounced back nicely from an opening-round loss to beat New York, 25-7.
It didn't take long for Atlanta to get going. New York got the ball first and spun the pill wide, but they were quickly turned over at the break down by the Harlequins.
One pass later the ball found the hands of the ever-dangerous Cortney Kuehl, who threw one dummy pass and knifed through the whole defense to take it all the way to the house. 5-0 Atlanta.
The next score came in the 20th minute, by way of Harlequins No. 8 Karen Faget. The former Life University Eagle received a pass 10 meters out from the line on the right sideline and proceeded to fight through two tacklers to stretch out and place the ball down for the score. 10-0 Atlanta.
Five minutes later, the Quins were in for their third, this time prop Lisa Jackson doing the honors. The strong front-rower finished off a sequence of pick and drives with one of her own to cross the line and score. 15-0 Atlanta.
New York came back with a try in the 29th minute. After Atlanta committed a penalty seven meters from their own line, USA Eagles lock Alycia Washington took a quick tap penalty and fought off three defenders to get into the endzone and pull New York to within eight points, 15-7.
The scores would remain the same for the next 35 minutes, until Harlequins scrumhalf Bridget Kahele, another former Life player, spotted a gap around the post of the breakdown and dove over for the try. Corinne Heavner converted and Atlanta led 22-7 with 15 minutes remaining.
Heavner would then bang in one more penalty, and Atlanta recorded their first win of the season, 25-7.

Atlanta 25
Tries: Kuehl, Faget, Jackson, Kahele
Convs: Heavner
Pens: Heavner
New York 7
Tries: Washington
Convs: Solomon
Beantown vs Twin Cities Amazons
The Amazons were yet another WPL team to right the ship this weekend after their 22-12 win over Beantown got them into the win column for 2019.
The women from Minnesota were aided by the return of USA Eagles flyhalf Katana Howard into the lineup. Her presence made a difference, as the Amazons cleaned up their performance following last weekend's blowout loss to Chicago.
Twin Cities opened the scoring after seven minutes through a Danica Mooney-James penalty kick.
Two minutes later, the Amazons found the whitewash through scrumhalf Rachel Lentsch, extending their lead to 10-0.
The game then reached a standstill for 42 minutes, before Beantown center Amanda Schweitzer crossed over to make the game 10-7.
In the 64th minute, Twin Cities winger Mooney-James scored, and then in the 78th minute her teammate and fellow winger Kaelene Lundstrom crossed over to push the Zons to a commanding 22-7 lead.
At the death, Amanda Schweitzer scored one more for Beantown to bring the final score to 22-12. It's the UC Santa Barbara grad's fourth try in the first two games. She will be disappointed her team couldn't improve to 2-0, but Schweitzer is certainly putting people on notice in the early going of the 2019 season.
Twin Cities 22
Tries: Lentsch, Mooney-James, Lundstrom
Convs: Mooney-James 2
Pens: Mooney-James
Beantown 12
Tries: Schweitzer 2
Convs: Toeldte