The best win of the season for the Glendale Raptors may be the upcoming bye week.
That’s not being cute.
On Saturday, Rachel Ryan, the team’s best offensive punch, was out after having minor knee surgery. Longtime USA Eagles player Laura Miller didn’t travel because of work obligations. And Mary Pezzulo was still out after tearing her ACL on the first day of fall practice.
“I learned you have to play the hand you were dealt,” coach Mark Bullock said.
After last week’s 58-22 win over the San Diego Surfers had all the drama of a Russian election – that being none – the Raptors trailed late in the ORSU match before Christen Suda stretched just over the try line, giving the Raptors the 27-24 lead with seven minutes remaining.
The officials had a conference before awarding her the score.
“It was tight,” Bullock said.
But it was enough. In a game Bullock said his team “didn’t play up to team standards” — poor passing and ball handling being atop his list of negatives — the Raptors still found a way to keep their 10-month win streak intact and move to 2-0 on the WPL season.
Denali Graham, Hannah Stolba and Chinyere Isaac-Heslop also scored, and Joanna Kitlinski finished off a scoring drive in the second half set up by Raquel Serra, who left the game with a broken collarbone.
The Raptors trailed 24-22 when pass after pass finally ended in the hands of Suda, who was tackled just over the try line.
“I guess words like resilience and persistence come to mind,” Bullock said. “We didn’t play well, but we didn’t panic and we found a way to win.”
The Raptors have a bye week before they travel to California to play the Berkeley All Blues on October 3.