TAC Day 1 - Freedom Recover Well in Loss to Ireland

Ireland had two opponents in their 2024 AFL TransAtlantic Cup opening game against the USA Freedom: the American side, and the humidity.

In the end, they handled both, but it was the side in blue who coped with the thick air at Colonel Sam Smith Park in Toronto.  After falling behind by 45 points at three-quarter time, Team USA rallied against a fading Banshees group to close the gap in a 56-32 loss.

Ireland’s goal was to hit from the start, and put the Freedom backline under pressure.  Hallie Kastanek, Connor Lewis, and Ally Dykes were put under pressure early, affecting several of Irish scoring shots to end the first term down 17-0.

Quarter two is where the game was won for the Irish, as they were able to clamp down on the Freedom clearances and take advantage of the occasional miscue.  Despite this, there were signs of life from in transition, Jess Blecher and Lindsey Bec worked hard to push the ball forward, and eventually lead to the first red-white-blue breakthrough off the foot of Cathy Hoha.  The USA were down 42-7 at the big break, but were starting to shake the cobwebs off.

Bleacher stepped up her defensive game, as did Kelli Kaskiw in the third term, and though veteran Marie Keating was able to add her second goal of the match, the backliners came to the fore to only allow ten points and send the game into the final term with the Banshees ahead 52-7.

Keating’s goal would be the last of the game for Ireland, as they started to rotate more players in and the Americans began to see the fruit of their own pressure start to bear.  Amanda Boe, Liz Edd, Kaiya Sygulla, Nicole Feery, and Liz Edd all notched their first goals for the National team as the Americans closed the gap.  And though time was never on their side, the skill of the goals were impressive and indicative of the potential of this team:  Boe’s tally was the result of good passes by Hoha, Jerri Allen, and April Munn; Feery’s heads up play to find an open Sygulla off of a free kick, and Edd’s cross-the-body curly-q goal.

Aussie Rules is a game of momentum, and in spite of the loss, that final term gives the Freedom a big boost as they head into their second Group match on Sunday against France.

“We definitely picked it up in that fourth quarter,” said Sygulla, whose goal and play through the center earned her TASMANIAN player of the game honors. “It showed that we haven’t practiced together a lot.  So we started finding each other on hand passes and kicks, tackles, spoils, all of that.”

The effort down the stretch showed that the Freedom won’t be worn down by the soupy conditions in Toronto.  For Sygulla and her Minnesota Freeze teammates, who spend hours in the gym before and during the season, 

“Part of it is going and doing straight fitness things,” said Sygulla, “I do interval training, I do higher reps and really lengthier things, but also skills training.  So we build our fitness with our skills.”

In the two other games on Friday, the Canadians were pipped by the GB Swans 21-20, while Colombia scored a victory in their first ever international Aussie Rules match, defeating the US's next opponent, France, 37-2.  

“Honestly, [we are] looking to continue to play and learn how the US team goes. I don’t really care too much about France, they’re going to be out there, but it matters how we play, how do we find each other and how we communicate. We improved so much, so I hope we continue to go from there.

Goals:
Ireland: Stevenson 2, Keating 2, Troy 2, Kendrick 1
USA: Sygulla, Feery, Hoha, Edd, Boe

Group Standings After Round 1: