Seven was the lucky number for a group of burgeoning female rugby stars in Lethbridge last weekend.
The foothills based Zone 2 went undefeated at the Alberta Summer Games female rugby sevens tournament and claimed the gold medal with a 12-10 victory over Zone 4 in the final, July 29 in Lethbridge.
“It feels incredible, I’ve never been so proud of a team before,” said Okotokian Micheila Verrall. “The way we all came together, I’ve never seen a group of girls get so intense about a sport and still have so much fun with it.
“It was really an exciting weekend.”
Zone 2, led by Foothills Composite Falcons girls rugby head coach Sophie Martin, featured Okotoks’ Verrall, Katie Barker and Jenna Morrison, Macai Schneider from Millarville as well as Shelaine Riehs and Madison Nesom from High River.
Verrall said the final with the Red Deer-and-area-based Zone 4 was characterized by massive tackles and steely determination.
“They were just going so hard it was incredible to watch,” Verrall said. “We won by a conversion, it was a really close game.”
Zone 2 and Zone 4 met in the round-robin opener and played to a 5-5 draw. Both teams would win their next four games to advance to the final.
“Between the two teams I’d say our athletic ability and skill was very close so the whole game was just a nail biter,” Verrall said of the final.
Barker, a winger for the Foothills Falcons, broke the 0-0 deadlock and got Zone 2 on the board in the first half.
“We just passed it down the line and then the outside centre was right next to it, but she got tackled so I got it and touched it down,” Barker said.
Zone 2 was awarded its second try on a penalty after a clear-cut score was prevented by an illegal tackle at the neck by Zone 4. Carter Jones from Strathmore scored the try for Zone 2 with Riehs kicking the successful convert late in the second half to give the team the two-point lead it would not relinquish.
Zone 2 cruised through the round-robin portion of the tournament after its opening game draw. They dispatched Zone 8 55-0, trounced Zone 6 by a 46-0 margin and edged Zone 5 26-12 to advance to the gold medal game.
“It went really well, we were ahead in our pool by 20 points pretty much the whole weekend,” Verrall said.
The 16-year-old Verrall, a student at Holy Trinity Academy entering Grade 11, said her team came together with a short window to prepare for the sevens tournament.
“We went into the tournament quite unsure of our abilities because we hadn’t done a lot of practices as a team, we didn’t really have a chance to get to know each other,” Verrall said. “But that weekend we really brought it all together.”
