Women's 7s Take Silver in Sydney

Coming off an 11th place finish in Dubai, the USA Women's 7s Team was itching for a little redemption, but their road wouldn't be an easy one. They would have to make it past the third (Russia) and fourth (England) place finishers, from Dubai, to progress through pool play and qualify for the Cup quarterfinals.

As in Dubai, the Eagles' faced Russia in their opening match. In Dubia, the USA was able to eke out a two-point win, 12-10. However, Russia would turn the tables, in Sydney, and hold the Eagles to only 10 points (their lowest scoring game of the tournament), while tallying 19 of their own.

Going into their second match, against England, the Eagles were behind the eight ball. They would have to beat the Brits to keep their shot at the Cup alive. Down 14-5 late in the first half, it wasn't looking promising for the USA. However, a try with less than a minute left put the score at 14-10 and kept the Eagles in the game. Strong defense in the second half held England scoreless, and the Eagles added two more tries to take the win, 22-10.

The Spanish women were the Eagles' last pool opponents. While this side has given the Eagles trouble in the past, the USA dispatched with Spain easily, holding them to only five points while scoring 20 themselves. With two wins in pool play, on Friday, the Eagles would advance to the Cup quarterfinals on Saturday.

The Eagles continued their defensive dominance over Ireland in their quarterfinals match, holding the women in green to only five points. With that defensive performance, three tries would be plenty to seal a 17-5 victory.

In their semifinal match-up, the Eagles ran up against the World Series leaders, New Zealand. Again, the Eagles' defense would hold strong, as they held New Zealand scoreless through the first half, while dotting down two tries of their own. They would allow two New Zealand tries in the second half, but added another of their own to take a 19-10 victory and head into the Cup Finals against Canada.

The all-North American final was a nail-biter of a match, with the two sides trading scores. The USA struck first, but Canada added two tries of their own to take a 14-7 lead into the half. The second half saw more try swapping, as the Eagles closed the gap, and then Canada widened it again. In the end, the Eagles could catch up to the Canadians, and Canada took the Cup with a 21-17 victory.

Despite the disappointing finish, the Eagles' overall performance was wonderful. Not only did they get that sought-after redemption, they put their collective hand up as a World Series contender. With a second place finish and the tournament's Player of the Final, in Naya Tapper, the Eagles hope to ride this momentum into their home-field tournament, in Las Vegas.