U.S. women’s rugby just made history. Now they’ll have a chance to win an Olympic medal

The United States will have the chance to medal in a sport they’ve never taken home an Olympic medal in before.

Team USA rallied past Great Britain 17-7 on Monday in the quarterfinals of women’s Rugby Sevens, ensuring that the United States will play for either gold or bronze on Tuesday.

This week marks the first time that the United States has reached the medal rounds since Rugby Sevens became an Olympic sport in 2016.

How did the U.S. women’s rugby team advance to the medal rounds?

Going into Monday, the United States was guaranteed a spot in the quarterfinals after sweeping Japan and Brazil during pool play Sunday. The team’s matchup with host France would determine in which part of the bracket the Americans would land.

France dispatched the Americans 31-14 early Monday to put the U.S. women in a quarterfinal matchup against Great Britain.

Things looked a bit shaky for the Americans early in their quarterfinal matchup with Great Britain, as the British got on the board first with a try from Ellie Boatman, then a successful conversion from Lisa Thomson.

Just over four minutes later, with the first half winding down, Naya Tapper scored a try to bring the Americans within two at 7-5, though the conversion missed.

It appeared the United States might take a lead into halftime when Ilona Maher broke off for a long run, but Great Britain’s Jasmine Joyce made an excellent tackle to end the half with the British leading 7-5.

From there, though, the U.S. dominated.

Kristi Kerche gathered in the ball off the opening kick to start the second half, then bullied her way for a try and a 10-7 U.S. lead 12 seconds into the half. A successful conversion from Kayla Canett made it 12-7.

The Americans locked down defensively in the second half, then made it a two-score game when Sammy Sullivan scored a try midway through the half for the match’s final points.

How to watch the Olympic women’s Rugby Sevens medal rounds

The victory against Great Britain on Monday put the Americans in a semifinal matchup against defending gold-medal Olympic champion New Zealand.

The match will be played on Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. MDT and televised on USA Network.

New Zealand has reached the gold-medal match in both prior Olympics that included rugby sevens. In addition to winning the gold in 2020, they took silver when the sport made its Olympic debut in 2016.

The other semifinal will pit Canada, which knocked off France in the quarterfinals, against Australia, which rolled past Ireland. That match will start at 8 a.m. MDT on USA Network.

Australia brought home the gold from the 2016 Olympics.

The bronze-medal match will be played at 11 a.m. MDT on Tuesday, with the gold-medal match following at 11:45 a.m. Both matches will be televised on E! Network.

Utah ties on U.S. women’s rugby team

The U.S. women’s rugby team has two Utah ties on its roster.

Stephanie Rovetti is a former BYU basketball player, while Alex “Spiff” Sedrick is a native of Herriman.

Sedrick scored a try in each of the United States’ wins over Japan and Brazil on Sunday.