TAC Day 3 - Freedom Kick Away over France

Momentum is a funny thing.  Sometimes it lasts a few minutes, sometimes a few games.

For the USA Freedom, the boost they got from their fourth quarter against Ireland in their opener carried forward into all four stanzas against Les Gauloises de la France in Game Two.

Seizing control from the opening ball up, the Americans put on a stunning display of offense against a game, but outmatched, French team, scoring a 125-0 victory at the 2024 AFL TransAtlantic Cup in Toronto.

Conditions were similar to the Ireland match, but with a cool breeze providing some relief to the women taking to the oval.  France had been upended by debutantes Colombia in their first match on opening day, but had shown great spirit on the defensive end that would be tested greatly.

From the start, however, it was apparent that the U.S.’s aim was to score and score often.  With a victory bringing all three teams in Group A level with a 1-1 record, having the edge in the standings on percentage was essential.

After performing defensive duty against the Banshees, Connor Lewis and Jess Blecher were called upon to help keystone the offense.  Nicole Feery was also moved up into the forward line, and April Munn anchored the offense at full forward.  Munn’s Seattle teammate Amanda Boe also had her scoring shoes on early, and the Freedom carved out a four goal opening term to lead 28-0.

The second quarter saw more of the same, with game one TASMANIAN player of the game Kaiya Sygulla shaking off a bad tackle in the opening term to come back and kick one of two goals on the day.  Lindsay Bec showed the skill that earned her Best and Fairest honors at Nationals a season ago as she slotted home two sausage rolls.  A six goal flourish ended the half with the Freedom up 68-0.

Lewis then ramped up her assault on the goals in the third term, ending with three for the afternoon.  Munn also kicked her second, and the question now wasn’t who would win, but how much of a percentage boost the Freedom would get.  At three-quarter time, it was a 96-0 margin, and the American women were threatening to break their margin and scoring record of 127, scored against the European Crusaders in IC17.

Coach Andrew Donlen didn’t park the bus, but he added defensive starter Ally Dykes into the forward line to let her stretch her legs a bit, and she rewarded her skipper with her first international goal. The Denver Bulldogs player, who sadly missed the 49th Parallel Cup last year due to a last minute injury, got a well deserved reward for her work rate.  As did Aileen Yoon, who also added one of four tallies in the final term.  Boe would also add to her team high four goal tally.  Though the U.S. would end up two points short of the record, no one was complaining.

But Les Gauloises are a very game side, who play their football with the right spirit.  They didn’t give up over the course of the 70 minutes, and special mention goes to fullback Mathilde Thillay for putting in a gritty performance amongst the torrent of scoring shots.

Lewis, who stands out as a multidimensional player for her hometown Minnesota Freeze, was named TASMANIAN player of the match due to her commitment through the midfield and those three tallies. 

“For us, we had to clean things up, better handpasses, better connections, and I think we did that through the midfield and through the forward line,” she told USAFL.com.

“It’s awesome to be able to step on the field with people who are either speaking a different language or speaking English in a different accent.  And the camaraderie we’ve had off the field and after the games has been really cool as well.”

In other games, Colombia put up a stout defensive effort in a 55-0 loss to Great Britain, and Canada beat Ireland for the first time in ten years in a 35-31 decision.

Those results, coupled with the Freedom’s big win, means there’s a three-way tie in the Americas’ Group A with one game left.  The U.S.A. sit in first on percentage, and with what should be a challenging game against Great Britain looming on Tuesday at 2pm EDT/11am PDT, this will allow the Freedom to concentrate on the basics.

“We’ve watched some of their [the Swans] games already, they’re a hard hitting team, I think they’re pretty on par with Canada.  It comes down to us playing our game, with clean handpasses, hard tackling, and playing together.”

USA Goals: Boe 4, Lewis 3, Sygulla 2, Hoha 2, Blecher 2, Munn 2, Yoon, Bec, Dykes

Tourney total:  Boe 5, Lewis 3, Sygulla 3, Hoha 3, Blecher 2, Munn 2, Yoon 1, Bec 1, Dykes 1, Feery 1, Edd 1

Standings after Round 2

Photos: AFL Canada / Mitchell McDonald-Roberts