BC Looks to Move UpAfter going 4-2 in the 2013 ECRC and finishing third, Boston College hopes to be in position to challenge AIC and Middlebury for 1st. To do that, they need to improve on last year's finish, where they lost 20-10 to AIC and 35-15 to Middlebury in the final two weeks.
DIA Top 20 Unveiled
USA Rugby's DIA Rugby unveiled their DIA Top 20 Thursday.
The rankings are handled in a new way this year, with voting coming from 12 different people. The commissioners of the six DIA conferences voted, as did DIA Commissioner Kevin Battle, and USA Rugby's Collegiate Director Rich Cortez. In addition, Goff Rugby Report Editor Alex Goff, DIA reporter Alex Solomon of USA Rugby, Pat Clifton from Rugby Today, and Curtis Reed of This is American Rugby also voted. (Note, earlier we didn't have Pat Clifton listed but he assures us he voted so he's listed now.)
The results were quantified and, no surprise, St. Mary's took the #1 spot, with 2014 runners up Life taking #2.
It was a much more difficult task to rank the rest, but here it is:
Arizona Addition Big News as DIA Launches Season
USA Rugby announced the 36 teams that will compete in DIA rugby this year, and the list includes the Big Ten (10 teams), Rugby East (seven teams), Mid-South (three teams), West (five), California (five), and Red River (six).
If you’re good at math you’ll see that those numbers total 35, not 36, and that’s because the University of Arizona will be a stand-alone independent. The Wildcats will make the DIA playoffs if they post a good enough record in their regular games, and if they are ranked high enough.
Arizona plays in the Pac Conference with Oregon State, and with four teams that will eschew USA Rugby’s playoffs to play in the Varsity Cup (Cal, UCLA, Arizona State, and Utah). DIA Commissioner Kevin Battle contacted Arizona Head Coach Sean Duffy to discuss the idea of the Wildcats shooting for a DIA playoff spot.
Middlebury Eyes Repeat as ECRC Kicks Off
The season begins in the East Coast Rugby Conference, with Albany at Middlebury, UMass at Boston College, and Northeastern visiting AIC.
Last weekend’s thunderstorms caused problems for teams trying to get a game in before the league kicked off. AIC was due to visit Army, but had to stay home. Middlebury was expecting to play in the Granite Cup at Dartmouth, but thunderbolts cancelled that, as well.
So the defending league champs will host Middlebury perhaps a little undercooked, but they can handle it. The Panthers are rarely the most athletic or biggest team in the league they play in, but they play smart, tough team rugby, and Head Coach John Phillips will need that tradition this fall.
Statement to Make as Cornell Faces Army
Cornell University hosts West Point this weekend in the opening match for both teams for this fall.
It wasn’t supposed to be so for Army, but lightning forced the cancellation of this past Saturday’s tilt against AIC. West Point is still adjusting to a new environment. Back from suspension, they have been a varsity program since the beginning of August. A search for a new head coach was halted and interim Mike Mahan remains at the head of the program, but with a reduced roster (in the old days West Point boasted well over 60 players on the roster and four teams, now they are limited to 50 players and two teams).
As for Cornell, the team that won the Ivy League South with a 6-0 record last year is taking things slowly. Paule Barford said when he took over last season that they were looking to win a game and move on from there. He is just as guarded now.
Tolkin Visits Iona Session
The Iona College men’s rugby team got a surprise Wednesday at training when USA Men’s National Head Coach Mike Tolkin dropped in to run a session.
“We knew Coach Tolkin was friends with [Iona Head Coach] Bruce McLane, and we’d heard he might come at some point, but to have him actually there when you show up at practice was a big deal,” said freshman center Michael Scarcella. “I learned a lot.”
Tolkin mostly worked on set pieces and defense, giving the players a new approach to playing a pressure defense and transitioning defenses through the phases. He also worked briefly on ways to get out of your own 22.
“For me, I learned how to play defense one way in high school, so to see it another way , especially as I’m learning a new position at inside center, was great,” added Scarcella.
College Eligibility Regulations Revised
USA Rugby has made a few changes to the College Eligibility Regulations.
The changes have to do with players in graduate school who have not used up their eligibility.
The revised regulations now allow a player to continue playing college rugby even if he or she changes teams between undergraduate and graduate school. Therefore, as long as a student has not used up his or her five years of eligibility, and the player is within seven years of graduating from high school, and is a full-time graduate student, then he or she can play college rugby.
Iona, SBU Confident as They Meet Each Other
Two teams that started their non-conference ACRC season with convincing wins have more convincing to do as they clash this weekend in the Southern Tier of New York State.
Iona, which shoved aside a solid Fordham team 53-3, travels to St. Bonaventure, which slammed Syracuse 81-0. It’s worth noting that not that long ago Syracuse were one of the top teams in the Northeast. SBU has to be happy with the victory.
“We have a good relationship with the Syracuse coaches and they’re good guys, so we were happy to get that game in,” said St. Bonaventure Head Coach Clarence Picard. “We got a lot of guys playing time and went through a number of checklists on how we want to approach certain situations. With Iona coming here we needed to do that.”
ODU, JMU, Radford Eye Cardinals Top Spot
It was a good start this weekend for Old Dominion, as the Cardinals Men’s DII Conference got off to a start for four of the seven teams.
ODU hammered William & Mary 60-0 in the opening weekend, a weekend that saw James Madison win a non-conference game and Radford beat Mary Washington 40-29.
For Old Dominion, which finished a close second to JMU last year, and Radford, which finished third, this opening weekend was very important.
ODU has lost only four starters from last year’s squad, and with their B-side winning 47-7, they have plenty of depth.
Mike Herron, a founding member of the Norfolk Blues, and Hennie van Zyl, their former coach, both coach the Monarchs. And with ODU having beaten a solid club team, Virginia Beach, during the spring, they have confidence, bolstered somewhat by a good showing at the Surfside 7s.
SCRC PreviewThe SCRC is getting ready to kick off its 4th season as a conference.
As a whole the conference has been very competitive with three different teams winning in three years. Florida won the inaugural year followed by Tennesseein year two; last year South Carolina took the title and finished with a nice run in the national tournament.
As a whole the conference has been very competitive with three different teams winning in three years. Florida won the inaugural year followed by Tennessee
Stortz Caps Comeback with 5 Tries
It was Friedrich Nietzsche who said that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger … or perhaps it was Kelly Clarkson.
With Kutztown University’s Robert Stortz being a double-major in Political Science and History, and also a young man versed in popular culture, he might well be familiar with both the singer from Texas and the philosopher from Germany, and he is certainly familiar with the sentiment.
In his first weekend of rugby games for Kutztown since his recovery from his second ACL surgery, Stortz scorched past Ottawa University and Algonquin University for five tries in helping the Golden Bears to a two-game sweep.
Davenport Skipper Reflects on WOU LossDavenport University captain Angus MacLellan warned his team that Saturday’s game against Western Ontario wouldn’t be like the week before. MacLellan said he expected WOU, which lost to Davenport 44-19 in a practice game August 30, to bring a more powerful squad to Grand Rapids, and they did. Knute McDonnell did score two tries, both converted by Brady Gent, but WOU’s cover defense was very strong and they shocked the Panthers early. “It was as expected - a good game, and very physical,” MacLellan told Goff Rugby Report. “I think we did well to answer then when they scored early, but then they pulled away. We made more of a game of it in the second half.
Kutztown 2-for-2 in Canada
Kutztown University crushed one of the top college teams in Ontario Sunday, finishing their trip North with a 2-0 record.
Saturday KU beat Ottawa 57-10 on Saturday, and then turned their attention to Algonquin, the Ontario College runners up in 2013.
Kutztown Slams Ottawa
Kutztown University defeated Ottawa University 57-10 Saturday in the first game of their two-game trip to Canada.
Robert Stortz celebrated his return from ACL surgery with three tries on the wing, and Nu’u Aiava celebrated his first game for KU with a try at outside center. Jordan Ghyzal celebrated his move from the backs to flanker with a try, and Alex Duke enjoyed his first start at scrumhalf with a try.
Sub flanker Joe Kauffman capped the rout with three tries. Kutztown plays Algonquin University on Sunday.
