Seawolves second-half comeback not enough to defeat Warriors
By Uriah Aguon, edited by Charles Hamaker
Tukwila, WA - It was a busy night at Starfire Stadium.
Before a 30-27 loss against the Western Conference’s second seeded Utah Warriors, the Seattle Seawolves celebrated their Women in Rugby theme night on Saturday, March 22nd.
The curtain raisers event ahead of tonight’s match for the Seattle Seawolves, their “Women in rugby” match, was a contest between the Seattle Orcas and the Portland Pigs, which ended in a 19-19 tie. (Photos provided by Katie/KBRPhotog on behalf of the Seattle Seawolves)
The evening began with a women’s league match between the Seattle Orcas and the Portland Pigs, which ended in a 19-19 tie.
Afterward, the Seawolves' co-owner, Julie Prentice, was inducted as the second member into the Seawolves Legends, honored for her leadership and entrepreneurship in Seattle sports. Prentice is proud to be involved in sports leadership and hopes to encourage more young girls and women to join rugby, living by World Rugby’s slogan: "If you can see it, you can be it.”
Seattle Seawolves co-owner Julie Prentice was honored as the second ever member inducted into the Seawolves’ legends, honored for her leadership and entrepreneurship in Seattle sports prior to the match. (Photos by Punkus Arnett on behalf of the Seattle Seawolves)
The celebration continued at halftime when the Seawolves called all present women’s rugby players, referees, coaches, trainers, and more onto the field for a special recognition and a full round of applause from the stands.
Match recap:
The Seawolves entered the match aggressively, winning multiple scrums and lineouts as they set themselves in good positions for runs into the Warriors’ territory. A battle at the halfway line lasted almost two minutes before Utah finally breached through and scored its first try in the fourth minute.
Seattle responded with two penalty conversion kicks, creating a 6-7 gap with 17 minutes left in the half. Within reach of a lead, Seattle was strong and quick off the ball, repeatedly breaching the Warriors’ defense and landing on the far goal line. Utah kept pace with Seattle’s aggressive energy, consistently pushing the Seawolves back into their territory.
The one-point margin broke in the 33rd minute when Utah picked the ball out of a Seawolves’ ruck to score a try. Seattle was close to a try in the 39th, winning a scrum and running the ball two meters short of the try zone. Thanks to tight and quick-off-the-ball defense, Utah led 14-6 entering halftime.
Starting the second half, the Seawolves surrendered a penalty kick and a converted try within five minutes. The Warriors kept the ball mostly in Seattle’s territory for the next ten minutes, finally winning a penalty kick out of a bad scrum in the 52nd.
Seattle responded in the 58th through its captain and number eight, Riekert Hattingh, who ran the ball out of a ruck straight into the try zone. Seawolves wing Malacchi Esdale added to the board in the 62nd, making the score 27-20 with 18 minutes remaining. He received the ball at the end of the line and bolted through a window in the Warriors’ defense.
In the final ten minutes, Seattle fought harder and harder to reach Utah’s try zone, especially after the Warriors won a penalty conversion kick in the 72nd, creating a 30-20 gap. The Seawolves played with advantage in the 74th minute and were awarded a penalty try after scrum-half Brock Gallagher absorbed a foul-play tackle from a Utah Warrior, also resulting in a knock-on.
Utah inched the ball across its territory during the final minutes, preventing Seattle from avoiding their fourth season loss for at least a little longer.
The Seawolves lost two opportunities to score in the 77th and 79th minutes when fly-half Eduard Fouché and flanker Olajuwon Noa knocked on the ball inside Utah’s 20-meter line on the Warriors’ blind side. Fouché, however, was four-for-four on made conversion kicks, scoring the Seawovles’ first six points and converting both tries for Seattle in this one.
Hattingh shared his thoughts on the outcome, highlighting the team’s first-half strength.
“It’s unlucky and unfortunate that we couldn’t pull off that win. The scoreboard doesn’t fully reflect how we felt down there. I think we were dominating most of their facets, especially in the first half. A couple of unforced errors and disciplinary issues on our part let them in, [and] that cost us the game.”
Scrum-half JP Smith said the team is only motivated by the loss and ready to find another win.
“We’re pushed with our backs against the wall at the moment with two [consecutive] losses, but the boys stood up and drew a line in the sand and said ‘no further. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but we’re definitely moving in the right direction.”
After the match:
Seattle awarded Juan Pablo Zeiss, a newly-signed tight prop with the Seawolves, his 50th cap, marking a milestone of 50 games played in Major League Rugby.
Zeiss started his career playing for Argentinian clubs, such as Jaguares and Los Pumas, eventually earning eight caps on Argentina’s national team. His MLR career began with the Houston SaberCats in 2022. Before signing with the Seawolves for the 2025 season, he played for the Dallas Jackals from 2023-2024.
“I am [grateful] this recognition,” Zeiss said. “It is such an honor.”
What’s next?
The Seawolves’ next match is against Anthem Rugby Carolina on Saturday, March 29, at 7PM PDT at Starfire Stadium in Tukwila, Washington as it will be broadcast live on Fox 13+, ESPN+ and The Rugby Network (Outside of USA and South Africa)
Anthem RC is 0-4 so far this season and ranked sixth in the MLR Eastern Conference, most recently losing 46-45 to the SaberCats on March 22.
Seattle is 1-4 and ranked fourth in the MLR Western Conference, as they are searching for a bounce back effort after back-to-back tight defeats.
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Check out our previous Seattle Seawolves articles here.
Check out our previous articles written by Uriah Aguon here, and his SPU work here.
Photos in this articles provided by Katie/KBRPhotog on behalf of the Seattle Seawolves
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