ANNAPOLIS, Maryland –
Trailing Navy 17-15 on a rain-drenched U.S. Naval Academy Rugby Field with the 2026 Armed Forces Rugby Championship on the line, the All-Army women’s rugby team delivered when it mattered most.
Newcomer Emma Gamboa, a second lieutenant from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, fed 1st Lt. Naomi Colin of Fort Benning, Georgia in the final minute to secure a 22-17 Army triumph over Navy. The victory avenged the All-Army team’s first loss in three years to the same Navy squad on Saturday.
“What we kind of told each other in the huddle was that’s not the end,” 2nd Lt. Alissa Eisenhart said.
“It’s a testament to who they are as individuals,” All-Army coach Kaitlyn Kelly said. “They’re all resilient gritty people.”
During their Saturday game vs. the Marine Corps and Sunday’s rematch with Navy in the final, Army focused on bolstering its defense and returning to its style of play; crisp passes and organized attacks.
Like the first match between the two teams, Sunday’s matchup featured a tense back and forth with Army getting on the board first as Army Sgt. 1st Class Lolita Galdones rolled into the try zone to give Army the first score. A scoring try by Navy Lt. j.g. Emily Ngo and successful conversion gave Navy a 7-5 halftime lead.
After Navy (3-1-1) scored again to go up 12-5, Capt. Margaret Mulry picked up a loose ball and ran in a score to cut Navy’s lead 12-10. Army 2nd Lt. Alissa Eisenhart sprinted nearly the length of the field for a score to put Army up 15-12 with about six minutes in regulation.
“I looked up and saw that there was a gap,” Eisenhart said. “I just tried to shoot for that gap and just run for my life and hoped my teammates were there and they were.”
Gamboa, a 2025 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, developed a close rapport with former West Point teammate Colin. Gamboa welcomed the opportunity to rejoin her collegiate mentor to continue the Army tradition of excellence on the rugby pitch.
“We knew we had a tradition to uphold,” Gamboa said.
Navy wing Allie Bonner bobbled the ball before securing it and running for a successful try to put the Sailors up 17-15 with 2 minutes left.
Once again Army’s victory came down to the final minute. And once again, the Soldiers remained cool under the highest pressure. In the halftime huddle Kelly had few words for her team. The Soldiers remained calm as Gamboa set Colin up for the winning score.
“I said, hey I’m not going to berate it, you know what you need to do,” she said. “We talked about betting on ourselves and being all in. We truly did in those last seven minutes. We never got flustered. We never got frustrated.”
In the Marine Corps game, Army, (4-1) made a concerted effort to tighten its defense, holding off the Marines from scoring at the try line for nearly three minutes.
“We really wanted to hone in on defense in the Marines game,” Kelly said. “We weren’t happy with our defense in the Navy game."
The loss to Navy snapped the Soldiers’ 14-game winning streak in the tournament. Eisenhart said that the team struggled with playing individually and not committing to sound tackling and good ball movement. Army also defeated Coast Guard 45-0 Sunday.
“It was definitely a wakeup call. This wasn’t something that we could easily accomplish,” Eisenhart said. “Definitely it opened our eyes to every team here is deserving of the gold medal and we’re going to have to work for it.”
After the final buzzer sounded, Navy’s players celebrated by giving coach Talia Carrasquillo a Gatorade bath and lifting her up. Although their tournament run ended in defeat, Navy’s silver medal finish capped the team’s most successful run in the Armed Forces Rugby Championship.
“We gave it everything we had,” said Navy fly Lt. j.g. Charlotte D’Halluin. “Obviously unfortunate to lose but we played our hearts out.”
Navy had gone five games without a loss dating back to last year’s consolation victory over Coast Guard.
Earlier in the day, an undermanned Navy team nearly defeated Air Force up 12-5 late in regulation before the Airmen rallied to tie the contest the closing minutes, 12-12. Navy received a red card and one plane had to sit out, but the Sailors continued to attack with Bonner scoring on two tries.
“I think that showed a lot of grit, resilience and heart and I’m super proud of my teammates,” D’Halluin said.
More Sailors have tried out for team in 2026, giving Coach Carrasquillo a larger talent pool to draw from.
“We’re getting better every year so we’re on a good trajectory,” D’Halluin said.
Consolation Game: Air Force, which had close calls vs rivals Army and Navy, defeated an improving Marine Corps team, 12-10.
Air Force Capt. Adrienne Yoder took a pass and rolled into the try zone to give her team an early 5-0 lead. Marine Corps 1st Lt. Haley Creech stutter stepped on a defender to free herself for a long scoring try and the Marines took the lead following the successful extra point 7-5.
Both teams had near scoring tries fall short. Marine Sgt. Vivian Aragon attacked the try zone but officials called her out of bounds just before she could cross the goal line. Air Force fell short on a possible score when the Marines snuffed out Tanya Siford’s breakaway attempt.
Marine 1st Lt. Katelyn McKinley ran through a crowd to give the Marines a 10-7 halftime lead. In what proved to be the eventual game winner, Air Force 2nd Lt. Trinity Bohaty of Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado passed to Yoder for a scoring try with about 2:30 remaining.
Then the Airmen (3-1-1) tightened their defense. Capt. Liz Labe tackled Creech at the try line.
Then Air Force’s Sara Scrapchansky stopped McKinley on a breakaway attempt in the final minute to preserve the win and third place finish for Air Force.
Earlier in the day, the Airmen had to rally to tie an undermanned Navy team. Yoder eventually scored on a short run through a narrow space to finish with the 12-12 tie.
“It was a very physical game so we were matching physicality and not necessarily playing our ball to get it to the outside,” Air Force coach Gianna Khoudary said. “Tremendous rally in the last minute and 45 seconds to get some fresh bodies out there; that was the difference.”