College Men

Grand Canyon Joins Gold Coast

UC San Diego has pulled out of the Gold Coast Mens DIAA college conference and will be replaced by Grand Canyon University for the 2016 season.

GCU, a varsity program that finished its first full season last year, struggled to find opponents, especially during the meat of the season in March and April. Goff Rugby Report detailed how GCU tried to put together their season.

But that has all been solved with GCU joining the Gold Coast, and that gives an instant jolt to an already strong conference.

Big Win, New Coach, PSU Building

Penn State’s win over Wheeling Jesuit may well have put the rest of Rugby East on notice.

After losing to AIC in a non-conference game and then beating St. Bonaventure, but not by much, PSU’s win over the Cardinals might well be an indication that the Nittany Lions are sharpening their claws.

And good timing, too. New Head Coach Blake Burdette is now in town and working with the team, which should perhaps give the players a little security. With Director of Rugby Chris Amoratis now reducing his time running the team, things might settle down.

Fall Men DI College Rankings Week 2

In this second week of the Fall DI College Rankings, six ACRC teams are in the Top 10.

We take out Lindenwood, because they're not fielding their varsity team this fall - we should have not listed them last week. Also dropping out on performance is Dartmouth and West Virginia. Both, of course, can work their way back in. Central Florida almost dropped out after losing their opener, but the loss to South Florida was 14-10, two tries for each, so we look on it as a tie and both are tied at #40. Florida International also comes in as does Wyoming and Miami of Ohio. Wheeling jesuit moves out of #2 after losing to Penn State. AIC and Penn State move up, and Penn State has a really good shot at getting to #1 soon, and if Army falters against Wheeling Jesuit it might happen next week.

DIA Roundup

The West DIA Conference will kick off this coming weekend with Wyoming at New Mexico and Utah at Colorado State.

That's right, Utah. The University of Utah Utes will play in two separate conferences this 2015-16 season, as Director of Rugby Mark Drown and the coaching staff look to find more regular competition for the team. That's been an issue for some years for Utah, finding enough games that are meaningful, and that give the team enough experience for when things get tough come playoff time. 

So begins a very busy and challenging season for Utah. They will play in the West DIA, facing off against Colorado State on Saturday, and then against Wyoming in Salt Lake City on October 3.

Then Utah hosts Colorado on October 17 before visiting Air Force on October 31.

Gamebreakers - DI College Men

In this week's Game Breakers, we look at the DI Men's College players who made an impact for their teams over the past weekend.

Niall McNamara

Bowling Green flanker McNamara was big on defense and became a crucial weapon for the Falcons in winning his teams own restarts, helping them to a 44-22 win over Ohio State.

Christian Adams

Adams scored four tries for AIC in their decisive victory over Dartmouth.

UMass Puts ECRC on Notice

The University of Massachusetts Amherst is off to a 2-0 start in the ECRC, and things look pretty good as they chase BC, AIC, and Middebury for the conference title.

The Minutemen disposed of Northeast 65-7 on Saturday after beating UConn in their conference opener.

Head Coach Phil Ciccarelli said the team is working together well early.

Bowling Green Doubles Up OSU

Two of the Midwest’s oldest rivals went at it tooth and nail on Saturday with Bowling Green State University dominating Ohio State in a 44 – 22 victory at Bowling Green’s College Park Rugby Field.

The Falcons led 24-5 at halftime, scoring four tries, and scored another four after the break. Both teams had to deal with Bowling Green’s merciless wind, which thankfully was devoid of the torrential rain that plagued the rest of Ohio’s matches. Nonetheless, only three of the 12 tries scored were converted.

The Falcons and the Buckeyes know each other from way back.

U. Hartford Speeds Past CCSU

The University of Hartford Hawks started their New England-Wide conference season with an impressive 49-14 victory over longtime rival Central Connecticut State University (CCSU), in an adrenaline-packed game Saturday.

The match that was held at CCSU and was very tight in the opening ten minutes. Ten minutes was all the Hawks needed for them to find their momentum. CCSU worked very hard on trying to stay cool and collected throughout the game, but it still wasn’t enough. Although CCSU had strong forwards and disciplined backs, their lack of speed hurt them, and Hartford won 49-14.

Roger Williams Starts Strong in New Home

Roger Williams is enjoying its foray into a new conference, as the Hawks have started 2-0 in the Rugby Northeast, defeating Providence in the opening weekend, and then slamming UMass Lowell 46-12 this past weekend.

Flyhalf Jedu Armar scored 16 points for the Hawks, kicking four conversions and a penalty, and scoring a try. Meanwhile, captain and No. 8 Luke Bradley led the team in tackles and scored two tries.

Colgate Surging in Empire

Colgate has surged to to a 2-0 record in the Empire Rugby Conference, and the Raiders look nicely set up for a clash with Stony Brook on October 3.

Head Coach David Chapman said his squad has started to buy into what he’s trying to do, but it took some adjustment time.

“Last year was our first year in DIAA,” Chapman told Goff Rugby Report. “We were 2-4 in the conference, but we were competitive. We knew we’d take our lumps but I don’t think the record reflected how we competed. And this year the guys have stepped up and taken up the challenge.”

Kutztown Takes Care of Delaware

Kutztown University brought the University of Delaware team down to earth Saturday, beating the resurgent Blue Hens 77-21.

Delaware is back on the field after a long suspension and have the Hens have already notched a win. But the experienced Kutztown squad was a different prospect, and the Bears were clinical, scoring four tries in the forwards, led by flanker Jordan Ghyzel, who got two, while the backs raced in eight tries, including two from wing Kina Malafu.

“They are still rebuilding,” said Kutztown Head Coach Gregg Jones. “And they pushed us all 80 minutes. We ran on some fresh legs and they managed to score three tries anyway. I give them a hell of a lot of credit.”

Jones said that his Kutztown team is still putting the pieces together.

DII Games This Weekend - Updated

Here are the Men's DII games slated for this weekend, September 19-20.

Check back here for scores.

Lindenwood to be Touch Pioneers

While Lindenwood University’s men’s 1st 15 won’t play full-contact games until the New Year, that doesn’t mean they are complete idle, as the Lions look to shake up college rugby tradition and try something new - touch rugby.

Both Lindenwood Head Coach JD Stephenson and his 7s coach, Camron Wyper, are Australian, and in Australia, touch rugby is very, very serious business. Many athletes like to play it, and in fact the 2009 winners of the Women’s Rugby World Cup 7s, Australia, was a team made up of players raised on touch rugby.

So this fall Lindenwood will send a team to the USA National Touch Rugby Championships at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla. October 9-11.