In a last-second thriller match against Australia, the United States women’s rugby sevens team clinched a bronze medal July 30, marking a historic moment for the U.S. as it secured its first-ever Olympic medal in sevens rugby. Among the victorious squad was Sarah Levy, a former Northeastern Husky.
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, rugby is in Levy’s blood. Her great-grandfather, Louis Babrow, was a well-known player for the Springboks — South Africa’s national team — and three of her uncles represented Western Province, another South African professional rugby union team.
Despite rugby being a family tradition, Levy never played the sport growing up. It was only when she came to Northeastern in 2014 that she discovered how much she liked the sport, playing for the women’s club rugby team. Passion and dedication led Levy to become team captain — and a star player in the process.
“My Olympic journey began the moment I started playing at Northeastern,” Levy said. “I fell in love with the sport and wanted to work toward being the best I could be every day.”
After graduating with a degree in health science in 2018, she continued her academic and athletic goals. Levy earned her doctorate in physical therapy at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences in San Marcos, California. While in California, she continued to play rugby for the San Diego Surfers, a dominant rugby club, and later in the Women’s Premier League for the New York Rugby Club.
In 2018, the USA Women’s Eagles selected Levy to train at the Rugby Weekend in Chicago. She made the transition from the traditional rugby 15s to the faster-paced rugby sevens, a version of the game played with seven players on each team instead of the usual 15. In 2022, she was selected for the USA sevens residency, making her official debut in Spain during the Malaga tournament.
“The past ten years on a large scale have involved creating goals for myself and slowly moving the goalposts further once I reached them,” Levy told The News. “I didn’t set out with a goal of reaching the Olympics, that would have felt far-fetched when I started. It would be ‘how can I get this 1% better this week to help the team on Saturday.’”
Levy made her Olympic debut in Paris July 28, scoring the first try for the Americans in the team’s opening match against Japan.
The Northeastern women’s rugby team took to Instagram to celebrate Levy. “We are proud to celebrate alumna Sarah Levy … Levy has always embodied the traits of a true athlete: humility, dedication, and grit. Now, playing at the highest level of rugby, she continues to inspire us all. We’re rooting for her all the way.”
She appeared in two of the five remaining matches after the blowout against Japan, starting in the quarterfinal match against Great Britain. Levy did not play during the bronze medal game.
The bronze medal match was filled with suspense. The Australians were up 12-7 with only seconds left in the game. But center Alex Sedrick made a last-minute run down the field to take the conversion and win the match 14-12, securing the U.S. women’s team a place in history.
Levy’s win on the world stage was especially meaningful to members of Northeastern’s current women’s club rugby team, which won a national championship title in December 2023.
“Sarah winning an olympic medal is incredibly special for our team,” Jordan Kreisler, co-captain of the Northeastern rugby team and a rising fourth-year mathematics and business administration combined major, said. “It shows that being a club team and learning the sport in college doesn’t have to hold us back from achieving great things as rugby players.”
