Raptors prevail - Valks move forward to D1

“It was a tough season, but 'what doesn't kill us makes us stronger', and that is where I see this team going... but right now, I think a lot of us are just focusing on allowing our bodies to recover from this season,” noted Berg.

Austin, TX – It was a cold rainy day on Sunday and the outcome of the match wasn’t much warmer for your beloved Minnesota Valkyries, not to be confused with the hometown Austin Valkyries.  Per the guidelines of the WPL agreement, teams finishing in either 7^th or 8^th place are subject to challenge for promotion/relegation by Division 1 championships teams.  Although it was the Chicago North Shore team who took the D1 Championship home, they deferred their challenge instead choosing to remain in D1 for 2012.  It was the Glendale Raptors who choose to challenge, leaving the 8^th placed Minnesota Valkyries to fight for their place in the 2012 WPL.

“As with many of the women's clubs this year, there were a lot of changes for us...." added Laura Gill, Valkyries co-captain

Valkyries Chobot scores within the first 5 minutes of play.

Minnesota Valkyries take on the Glendale Raptors to fight for a spot in the Women's Premier League.  Kickoff is set for 10am on Sunday, Dec 4th in Austin, TX.

vs

The Valkyries ended their 2011 season with their two best performances of the year at Nationals, but unfortunately ended Nationals with two losses. We finished Nationals ranked 8^th in the Women's Premiere League. Our rank in the league has subjected us to a challenge by Glendale, the 2nd place-Division 1 team. We will be playing this match in Austin, Texas, a neutral location that will not be snowy, on December 4. Unfortunately, this means an extra plane ticket as well as rental car and hotel costs for our players. We are asking you to consider contributing to the Valkyries to help players directly offset these costs. Our players have firmly stepped up to continue practicing and playing to make sure that we stay where we belong, in a league that consistently offers us high level women's rugby.

We are looking for your help to offset our players' travel costs

You may donate via Paypal on the website by clicking http://valkyriesrugby.org/contact-us/donations.html and writing “Challenge Match Donation” in the comment field, or you may pay by check. Checks may be mailed to Valkyries Rugby c/o Sarah Roehl, 3941 Grand Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55409.

Heartbreaker in Overtime

"We have been on the same trajectory all season - we proved that today - and we will do it again on Sunday."
-Valkyries Captain Libby Berg

Valkyries are dealt a heartbreaking loss for their first game at Nationals.  Playing in the 2nd tier for 5th-8th place, the Valkyries hit the field this morning to play Keystone women.  Despite the nay-sayers picking the Valks to lose by 5 tries, they hit the pitch running and put in the first try within the first ten minutes.  But that was just the beginning.  Keystone answered with a try and the game was ON!

Back and forth the scoring went until the final minutes.  Keystone was up by 7.  Without a moment to lose, the Valks marched the ball down the field to put up 5 more points.  Down by only 2, Captain Libby Berg put up the conversion and the whistle blew.  Score tied 25-25, we headed to overtime!

Keystone came out and hit the ground running, putting up 3 unanswered tries in the first 10 minute half of overtime.  The Valkyries refocused and came out for the second OT half putting up a try with Libby Berg completing the conversion again.  Down by two tries, the Valks fought hard to get into the try zone.  Putting in one more with only seconds remaining, Libby Berg put up the conversion and the whistle blew, leaving the Valks 5 points shy of taking home the win.  Final score 44-39.

Post game analysis

"It was a hard loss today and we are regrouping for the next game," said Valkyries Captain Libby Berg.  "We put it all out there today, we put it all on the line.  The outcome isn't what we want, but we are now moving forward to the next game." 

"The team is so committed to its growth," says Coach Abby Rombalski, "Though frustrated by the final score, we have made so many gains together - that's what is going to keep building our Valks presence."

"Our goal was to close the point gap," added Captain Laura Gill, "We fought to the final minute.  We never gave up."

"For the next game (against Washington Furries), we really want to come out with a strong defensive presence.  We are looking to create turnover ball and capitalize.  This will be a prime factor.  Offensively we want to be unpredictable," noted Abby.

"We are looking forward to reaching our season goal of getting better every game," added Laura.  "We want to continue our defensive stance, but adapt our offense to put in more tries."

Libby concluded, "We have been on the same trajectory all season - we proved that today - and we will do it again on Sunday."

Women's Clubs Set to Collide at Nationals

For Immediate Release from
November 2, 2011

Boulder, Colo.-- The teams for the Women's Premier League and the Women's Divisions I and II Club National Championships have all been set. The Emirates Airline USA Rugby 2011 Women's Club Championships will be held in Virginia Beach, Va. at the Princess Anne Soccer Complex from November 11-13, 2011. Fourteen elite women's rugby teams will aim to assert their supremacy over the their opposition, promising some thrilling elimination rugby action.

Select matches will be shown on USA Rugby's UStream channel.
UStream Link

Women's DI Club

The Women's Division I finalists have already been decided by a round of playoffs and now the Glendale Raptors and Chicago North Shore will meet to play for the National Championship. The two teams are coming off of strong performances in the playoff rounds and even stronger performances in the regular season. Both Glendale and North Shore hope to claim victory on Sunday afternoon with kickoff at 1 p.m. ET.

Both Glendale and North Shore hope to claim victory on Sunday afternoon with kickoff at 1 p.m. ET.

Women's DII Club

In the Division II competition, eight teams from across the country will converge in Virginia Beach to decide a National Champion through three rounds of playoffs over the course of the weekend. The quarterfinals will be played on Friday, the semifinals will be played the next day (Saturday).  The two undefeated teams through those two rounds will fight for the Championship on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. ET.
Women's Premier League

With relegation posing a threat to four teams in the Women's Premier League, the National Championship weekend in Virginia Beach will not only decide who will reign as champion of the WPL but also who will stay in the competition next year. Every team in the WPL will be present at Virginia Beach.
 
The top two teams from each division (the Berkeley All Blues and Beantown from the Blue Division and the San Diego Surfers and Twin Cities Amazons from the Red Division) will compete in semifinals on Friday while the bottom two teams from each division (New York Women RFC and Minnesota Valkyries from the Red Division and the DC Furies and Keystone form the Blue Division) will compete in consolation matches to avoid relegation.

Jarrod Beckstrom | Communications Manager | USA Rugby | This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Cross-Town Rivals Battle in Minnesota

by Alicia Gillberg for YSC.com
October 31, 2011

EAGAN, MN - While rivalry is the best word to describe the relationship between the two WPL teams that both call the Twin Cities their home, it only goes so far. The Amazons and the Valkyries have been battling it out for decades here in Minnesota. Both teams have had times of reign in The Cities, and both always come with a high level of passion towards the matches in which they meet. This weekend was no different. Regardless of circumstances for either team; the Valkyries looking for their first win of the season, and the Amazons working to keep their conference lead going into nationals, both teams came to battle it out.

2011 Emirates Airline USA Rugby Women's Premier League Championships
November 11-13, 2011

Although the Valks took another loss from our favorite cross-town rivals (see Cross-Town article), we are now making preparations for Nationals.  The Valks head out to Virginia Beach, VA on Thursday, Nov 10th.  Our first match will be Friday at 11am EST versus Keystone.

Previous Women's Premier League Champions

2010- New York Rugby Club
2009- New York Rugby Club 

Match Schedule - Friday November 11

Match Schedule - Sunday November 13

SUPER FANS -- JOIN US!

Please join us for our games and our Saturday night team dinner.

We will be staying at the Homewood Suites by Hilton, Virginia Beach/Norfolk Airport
5733 Cleveland Street, Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States 23462
Tel: 1-757-552-0080

Feel free to set up your own reservation, we do not have rooms blocked-off for advance reservations.

More info about the tournament can be obtained from the attached PDF

Attachments:

File	File size
2011 WPL, DI, & DII - Tournament Information Packet (Virginia Beach, VA).pdf	152 Kb

Women's Premier League

Conference Standings                                                                              

Red Conf                W        L   Points
Amazons                 4          1   21
San Diego               4          1   20
New York                2          3   10
Minnesota Valkyries  0         5      1

Blue Conf              W        L        Points
Berkeley                  5          0         25
Keystone                 3          2         14
Beantown                2          3         10
DC Furies                0          5           1

The Valks “never say die” attitude once again put them on a last minute scoring drive with captain Libby Berg touching one down at the 79^th minute.

Match Report - For YSC
Valkyries vs San Diego Surfers
10/23/11  by JL “Trie” Triemstra

Eagan, MN –  On a chilly October morning just south of the Twin Cities, the Valks and Surfers jumped into their final match against each other for the 2011 regular season.  True to form, the Surfers came out strong from the start with their loose-head prop, Jillian Duggan, scoring within the first 10 minutes.  More tries would be touched down within the first half of play:  Griffeth, Lear, Bennett, Henry, Hartos, and Bennett again.  All but the last try was easily converted by Kirsten Hartos to leave the score 47-0 at half.

Also true to form, the Valkyries came out in the second half and played a different game.  The Surfers only touched in two more tries, Bydwell at 55^th minute and Anderson at the 71^st minute.  The Valks “never say die” attitude once again put them on a last minute scoring drive with captain Libby Berg touching one down at the 79^th minute.  Leaving the final score to be 59-5.

After the match, the Valks and Surfers shared a common love of World Cup Rugby and watched the championship match on the big screen at the social.  Moving forward both teams will be playing their final WPL regular season match next Sunday.  The Surfers will take on NYRC and the Valks take on their cross-town rival Amazons.