Road To WPL Championship: Down To The Wire
Road To WPL Championship: Down To The Wire
A roundup of where we are with three weeks to go in the WPL.
It was a wild weekend in the WPL and questions remain with three weeks to go.
Twin Cities shocked Beantown, beating the Boston team in Boston 52-12 in a game where the Amazons ran on a bunch of subs with 20 minutes to go and poured in four tries as a result. Scrumhalf Rachel Lentsch got two of them but the scoring was all around. It was as if they suddenly figured out what to do.
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Berkeley somehow held off ORSU 36-31 thanks to two tries from center Bulou Mataitoga and two from prop Rachel Reddick. ORSU got two bonus points, through and that matters.
New York righted the ship under their new coach and slammed Atlanta 60-32. Alycia Washington was once again superb.
Nichole Wanamaker's try at the end of the game helped secure a 31-31 tie with San Diego. It was her third.
What does this all mean? It means the chase for a place in the semis is far from over. The Surfers got a bonus point with the tie, so that's almost as good as a win. But Glendale is only five points adrift with a game in hand. Berkeley is right there, too, and even ORSU, despite being 2-4, has enough bonus points that two good wins in the final weeks could put the Oregonians in the hunt.
In the Red Conference, it is all completely up in the air. New York, at 3-2, has three games left while Twin Cities, Atlanta, and Beantown all have only two to play.
| WPL Blue Conference | W | L | T | PF | PA | PD | BT | BL | PTS |
| San Diego Surfers | 4 | 1 | 1 | 170 | 111 | 59 | 5 | 1 | 24 |
| Berkeley All Blues | 4 | 2 | 0 | 156 | 168 | -12 | 3 | 0 | 19 |
| Glendale Merlins | 3 | 1 | 1 | 190 | 97 | 93 | 5 | 0 | 19 |
| Oregon Sports Union | 2 | 4 | 0 | 148 | 186 | -38 | 4 | 2 | 14 |
| Chicago North Shore | 0 | 5 | 0 | 73 | 175 | -102 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| WPL Red Conference | W | L | T | PF | PA | PD | BT | BL | PTS |
| Twin Cities Amazons | 3 | 2 | 1 | 205 | 138 | -45 | 4 | 1 | 19 |
| Atlanta Harlequins | 3 | 3 | 0 | 232 | 161 | 29 | 5 | 1 | 18 |
| New York Rugby | 3 | 2 | 0 | 194 | 166 | 28 | 4 | 1 | 17 |
| Beantown Rugby | 3 | 2 | 1 | 141 | 158 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 16 |
| D.C. Furies | 1 | 4 | 0 | 87 | 236 | -18 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
So who is in the best position to make the top four? San Diego, clearly, but Glendale had three games left, including two very winnable games at home. However, Glendale at Berkeley October 13 might decide it all.
In the Red, New York, despite being third at the moment, is in the best position, with the Amazons also looking strong. Twin Cities hosts Atlanta this week - that's a big one - and then is on the road at New York. Because of that, Atlanta still holds its fate in its hands. Beat the 'Zon and beat the Furies and you're in the top two.
Beantown, with a road game against a tough DC team and a home game against New York, is in trouble.