National Collegiate Rugby’s high performance 7s squad is set for a return to Algarve 7s Saturday in coastal Portugal. Led by head coach Jamie Frech, the NCR All Americansare looking to improve on their second-place finish in the same competition last year.
The Americans are grouped in Pool A with Sporting Club de Portugal, the South London Crabittohs, and Scottish Strathclyde University’s second side. NCR opens pool play Saturday against the Crabittohs at 9:40 a.m. local time, followed by Sporting at noon and Strathclyde at 2:40 p.m.
The top two teams from each pool advance to Sunday’s quarterfinals from 11:00 a.m. to noon. The semifinals are set for 2:20 and 2:40, with the final kicking off at 6:40.
Returning from last year’s runner-up squad are Brown’s Laryssa Barbosa, Notre Dame’s Mia Blocher and Towson’s Kelly Greenleaf. They’re joined by some of the top performers across all women’s competitions from the 2025/2026 school year.
Piper Lee led Colorado School of Mines to Division III national titles in XVs and 7s as a sophomore, also winning Player of the Year. She joins RPI’s Leanna Wells, who led the Tri-State conference to an All-Star 7s championship in January, scooping up tournament MVP honors.
Named alongside Wells on the All-Star all-tournament team, and the Algarve squad, are New Hampshire’s Tobias Gudinas, Marist’s Syd Weiss, Greenleaf, Blocher, Lee and Northeastern's Jolene Russo, who was arguably Northeastern’s best across the Huskies’ championship double, winning a XVs natty in December and a 7s title in April.
Only Notre Dame and Collegiate Rugby Championship Premier Cup runner-up Brown scored two players on the touring side, which boasts representation from every division.
NCR Griffins
Laryssa Barbosa - Brown
Olivia Baptiste - Brown
Mia Blocher - Notre Dame
Ada Erhart - Ohio State
Kelly Greenleaf - Towson
Tobias Gudinas - New Hampshire
Isabel Henderson - Notre Dame
Piper Lee - Colorado School of Mines
Gillian McRae - Iowa
Jolene Russo - Northeastern
Lauren Thomlinson - Drury
Sydney Weiss - Marist
Leanna Wells - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
The first Saturday game will be streamed live via Algarve 7s and the remaining games will be streamed on National Collegiate Rugby's YouTube channel.
