The High School girls traveled to Le Moyne College in Syracuse on Sunday to participate in the NYS 7s Championship. Kenmore was placed in Pool B, alongside City Honors, Corning and Syracuse. In pool play, Kenmore faced off against the top two teams in their pool, taking on City Honors and Corning.
After dropping their opening matches, the girls found themselves in a tie with Syracuse. Unfortunately, Syracuse barely beat out Kenmore on points to finish 3rd in the pool. This put Kenmore in a play-in game against Fairport to determine who would move on to the 5th place final.
"Starting off the day against two of the top teams is not ideal, not to mention playing against them with point differential on the line. We didn't let that dishearten us, and kept fighting. In fact the girls used those games to find some things they can get 1% better at and took those into the playoff matches. Incredibly proud of this passionate group who continue to fight." - Kenmore Rugby HS Girls Head Coach Rachel Noone
Facing a tough Fairport side in the play-in match was a huge test for Kenmore. As the number 4 seed, Fairport got the better of Kenmore more often that not in the regular season. This time, Kenmore was more than up to the task and held Fairport scoreless with their tough defense. Kenmore finished the match with a score of 30-0 thanks to a hat trick from Rosie Miller and a try each by Emily Pytlewski, Aislyn O’Malley and Maddy Greene.
Advancing to the 5th place final, Kenmore kept things rolling against Syracuse. Marleigh Szymendera led things off with a long run, fending off several defenders and resulting in the first try of the match. That score set the tone for the game, and it was all Kenmore from there. Miller added another hat trick, and O’Malley and Greene each added their second scores on the day. Greene also added a conversion on her try. Kenmore would go on to win 32-5 and secure a 5th place finish.
"The stat lines don’t show how much of a full team effort every match was. The day was filled with hard runs by Joanna Croom-Coronel and Karli Schmitt, often coming very close to scoring, long chasedowns by Taylor Stevens and stellar ball distribution from Ava McCrea." - Kenmore Rugby HS Girls Head Coach Rachel Noone
To end the season, all Kenmore teams will be back in action. The High School boys will end their season at Canisius on Wednesday, the Middle School sides will be hosting a Round Robin on Saturday, and on Sunday the High School girls will be traveling down to St. Bonaventure to participate in a 7s round robin prior to the 15s championship matches.
Founded in 2004, the Kenmore Rugby Club is WNY's oldest and largest youth & high school rugby club with over 100 active players in grades K-12.
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