Team USA won its first women’s rugby medal in history, and several of the athletes have ties to New England.
The U.S. women's rugby team made history Tuesday, winning bronze with a victory over Australia.
The players fought tooth-and-nail for the third-place spot on the podium, a feat the team has never reached before.
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"So excited about women's rugby. We don't hear a lot of people talk about it, and now everybody's abuzz," said rugby fan Nikki Athas.
It's the first Olympic medal for U.S. women, and the nation's first in 100 years since the men won gold in Paris 1924.
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"USA is not historically a rugby power of the world, so to be competing with these top elite teams, it's just really incredible," said local rugby player Tierney Morton.
Members of the North Shore Football Rugby Club take pride in what Team USA accomplished in Paris, helping growing the sport in the U.S.
"I'm just really inspired by the humility and their ability to work together throughout the Olympics," said Katherine Gorham.
New England was well-represented on the Olympic rugby team, with players like Ilona Maher from Vermont and Kristi Kirshe of Franklin, Massachusetts.
Kirshe joined the sport only six years ago after finishing college, and has been playing professionally since 2019.
"[It's] just a testament to how much this team has grown and changed in the last few years to be medal contenders to be a position where we could beat some of the best teams in the world," said Kirshe in an interview with NBC 10 Boston before leaving to Paris.
A fan of "Good Will Hunting" and a proud No. 12 bearer like Tom Brady, Boston runs in Kirshe's blood.
But it's her love for the sport that she wants to share with the world.
"Would love to see like a medal performance really just absolutely grow," she said. "The game in America gets so many young girls playing the sport and falling in love with sport and feeling as empowered and confident as we are."
Keith Cattanach, who coached Olympic medalist Sarah Levy at Northeastern University, is thrilled with the team's placement on the podium.
"I've been on cloud nine for several weeks now," Cattanach told NBC10 Boston.
For Erin Johnston and her North Shore teammates, Tuesday's win is a win for all.
"This is an absolute historic moment, following them all behind-the-scenes on social media, and just seeing how far individual players have grown and how hard they've worked and then also coming together as a team," Johnston said. "It's just been absolutely inspirational to watch."
Tuesday's final match was the end of the Olympic run in Paris. The women of Team USA Rugby walk away with their head held high, raising the bar for the next group competing in Los Angeles in 2028.
