Chasing the Champs - Winona, NDSU Track UMD
Is Minnesota-Duluth automatic to win the Northern Lights Conference? Maybe … but it depends who you ask.
A couple of teams in the mostly-Minnesota Men’s DII college conference are looking to chase down those Fighting Penguins, and if you ask UMD, as well, they might say things are a little different this year.
“There’s definitely a concern about tougher games ahead,” said Dean Walsh, who took over as Head Coach at UMD this season. “Other teams are getting better. Everyone wants to play their best game against us.”
Like Winona State. Two weekends ago UMD ran out to a 29-0 halftime lead, only to see Winona outscore them 19-7 in the second half. Sure, Duluth won, and sure, Duluth had a few tries called back. But it was a confidence boost for Winona State.
Men Fall DII College Rankings Week #4
The latest Men's DII College rankings don't see a lot of movement in the top region. We do have a few moves in the lower levels, so we'll talk about that.
RIT, LeMoyne, Plymouth State, and Springfield all lost and drop out as Hartford, Siena, Oakland, and Pitt State all move in. There weren't too many upsets, although unranked Siena's defeat of #31 RPI qualifies RPI stays in, but drops 14 points.
The big question, of course, is whether we should be ranking NC State at all. NC State is a DI school in the NCAA, and that's usually what USA Rugby follows. NC State doesn't have a DI conference to play in at the moment, and while the Wolfpack could have played an independent DI schedule, USA Rugby is trying to de-emphasize that road for teams. So ... what? Keep NC State out of the conversation? We're not sure that's right, either.
Player Spotlight - Jimmy Wolfer
Jimmy Wolfer scored two tries and kicked four conversions in the 28-26 St. Joseph’s victory over Pitt on Saturday, securing 1st place in the Keystone West.
It’s not hard to see his influence. The elusive center needed to score those tries, and certainly needed to kick those conversions - a couple of which were right on the sideline - for the Hawks to win that game.
“All week we felt really good going into the game,” said Wolfer. “We were schedule to play on Founders Field in Pittsburgh, and I love playing there. But we had to change at the last minute and it was a narrower field than we’re used to. We were a little concerned, but the forwards just did a great job working through the phases. It wasn’t until late in the game we were able to find some space in the backline, but I was able to slip through a couple of gaps in the second half.”
Who's Up, Who's Down Men DII College
A look at who's up and who's down in Men's DII College Rugby this week.
Who's Up: Furman. Beating South Carolina last week, and then following that up with a crucial win over UNC-Charlotte this week seems to have set Furman up for a pretty snappy fall.
Who's Down: Forfeits. It's a tough business, keeping the season going. You have high hopes, if not to compete with the best teams, but to show up, give 'em a game. And then an injury here, a big loss there and numbers drop. You can't show up. We get it, it's tough, but you've got to make the effort. Isn't that part of what it's about?
Tri-State Almost to Playoffs
Siena defeated RPI and Sacred Heart defeated Marist to retain 1st place in the Tri-State North for Sacred Heart.
William Paterson beat College of New Jersey to finished 4-0 in the Tri-State South, and Vassar, with three tries from Trevor Kennish, is now 5-0, setting up a showdown with SUNY New Paltz for the final weekend.
The playoff matchups are almost set, with Sacred Heart, Siena, and RPI for sure in the quarterfinals from the North. Marist (1-3) plays winless Hofstra and if Marist wins, then that team takes the 4th spot in the playoffs.
William Paterson has just about sewn up the #1 seed in the South, with NJIT and Molloy right behind.
Defending conference champs RPI is still solid at 3-1, but got a bit of a wakeup call with the loss to Siena.
Gamebreakers This Week - Men DI
Here's a look at some of the DI-level players who showed well in the last couple of weeks - our Gamebreakers.
Skyler Adams
The AIC prop from Colorado Springs had his best game in an AIC uniform against UConn, dominating the point of contact as he helps AIC to an undefeated record in the ECRC.
Liam Wynne
The Colorado State center played a solid all-around game for the Rams in their win over Air Force, a week after scoring three tries in a win over Colorado.
Malcolm May
Scored three tries for Penn State and was an overall powerhouse at flanker as the Nittany Lions defeated Army.
Luca Wrabatz
Wrabatz scored two tries and added eight conversions for 26 points as the University of Buffalo defeated Delaware 71-22.
Southern Cal Team Issues Statement
The University of Southern California men's rugby team has issued a statement in the wake of the team receiving a suspension from the University.
The statement, reprinted in its entirety below, explains why the team received the suspension:
In order to prevent idle speculation, the Men's Rugby Club at USC wants to inform our alumni, family, fans and supporters that, as a student run organization under the Recreational Sports department at USC, our suspension arose from failure to comply with University administrative policies and procedures. In the Spring of 2016 the Club failed to submit required documentation to compete off-campus, thus putting us on probation for the Fall semester. During this time, the Club failed to request and receive approval to share training time and field space with another USC club.
Navy Opens New Venue With Win Over Notre Dame
The US Naval Academy men's team rebounded from last week's one-point loss at Air Force to defeat Notre Dame 34-15 Saturday.
Duluth, Winona Lead in Northern Lights
We’re coming down to playoff time in the Northern Lights Men’s DII college conference in Minnesota, and Minnesota-Duluth and Winona State look to be the strongest teams.
Duluth and Winona actually met last week in a crossover game between Pool A and Pool B. Duluth won 36-19, but it was a competitive game, and one that showed Winona just how close they are to the two-tie defending national champs.
Coast Guard, Hartford to 4-0
Coast Guard and Hartford look to be on a collision course in the New England Wide conference in Men's DII College, as both won this weekend.
For Hartford, it was a big Saturday as they beat defending conference champs Springfield 20-10. Club president and Troy Solt flyhalf/fullback said the Hawks entered the season expecting to do some good things.
"We didn't graduate a lot of players and so we've got a pretty experience team," said Solt. "Going into the game against Springfield we knew we just needed to stick out tackles. It also helped us that the field was wider than it was when we played them last year. We had a bit more space and was able to attack wide."
Down to the Wire in Rugby Northeast
The Rugby Northeast Conference is is coming down to the wire with four teams chasing 1st place.
Bentley had a bye and stays at 4-0, but now they are tied with Providence College, which defeated Bryant 39-24 to join Bentley at 4-0.
Meanwhile, Southern Connecticut slammed Stonehill 65-0 to move to 3-1, while also winning was UMass-Lowell, which edged Roger Williams 32-26.
Lowell started the season with a 17-3 loss to Bentley, but since then has rebounded with three straight wins.
But it hasn’t been all smooth sailing, and wasn’t on Saturday, as they saw a 32-5 lead fritter away to a 32-26 scoreline.
The early start to the season caught Lowell not quite firing when they met Bentley, and it hurt them. But now, things are going better.
UMW Weathers rain, UVa for Win
In a rain-soaked game reminiscent of old-school rugby, the University of Mary Washington adjusted to the weather in the 2nd half and pulled away from the University of Virginia to win 34-12 in Chesapeake Conference action.
UMW improved to 3-1 while Virginia dropped to 1-3.
The game was played in weather affected by Hurricane Matthew, and it was nonstop rain. UMW's new Bermuda grass field withstood the deluge and played as well as can be expected in the weather, but it was rough going for the players.
Cal Wins West Coast 7s
Cal defeated Saint Mary's 38-5 to win the West Coast 7s Saturday.
In the first major college 7s tournament in California this season, 12 teams were slated to play, however USC received a suspension just days before the event and could not participate.
Cal, Saint Mary's, UCLA, and Arizona State all won their pools. Cal won fairly comfortably over ASU in the semis, while Saint Mary's edged UCLA 10-7 in a nailbiter.
The surprise team of the tournament was likely Grand Canyon University, which beat UC Davis in pool play, and then dispatched San Diego State and Santa Clara to take the Plate. The only team GCU lost to was Saint Mary's.
Here are the scores:
Keystone - Wolfer Sparks Joe's
St. Joseph's and Rutgers both clinched 1st place in their respective divisions in the Keystone Conference this weekend, as both recorded two-point victories.
Rutgers edged Temple 12-10 to finish the regular season 3-0. After falling behind 5-0 Rutgers tied it up with a try from Glen Johnson and then followed it up with a try from Jamil Pollard. Mike Nezgoda's conversion was the difference.
Meanwhile, conversion kicking was the difference for St. Joe's over Pitt. In an exciting game, the Hawks held off the Panthers thanks in part to a superb game from flyhalf and goalkicker Jimmy Wolfer. St. Joe's took an early lead from a lineout-and-maul. Then Noa Niu zipped over for the team's second try - Wolfer converted bth and SJU led 14-5 at halftime.
Pitt prop Chris Johnson powered over for Pitt's try just before the break.
CSU Downs Air Force, Takes Hold of West DIA
Colorado State University moved to 2-0 in the West DIA after an impressive 30-26 defeat of the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
CSU now leads the West DIA and is the only team not to have suffered a loss.
“We feel awesome about how we’re playing,” said CSU Rugby club president Daniel Hyatt. “We know there’s always room for improvement, But we’ve got a good elite side with a lot of depth, with some good veteran team leadership.”
The guy who is probably CSU’s best player, capped USA 7s player Ben Pinkelman, isn’t even playing for the team - he’s had shoulder surgery. And yet, they are playing some inspired rugby under Head Coach Justin Mort. Pinkelman is helping at practices, and Hyatt said it’s starting to come together.
