This weekend marks the opening weekend of the USA Rugby Women’s DII College Fall Championship, hosted by ACRA, and games will be contested in one of four regional brackets. In three of those brackets, a conference championship is serving as a Round of 32 match, meaning the victor moves onto the Round of 16. The Mid-Atlantic region, however, has put a slight spin on the bye procedure.

The Mid-Atlantic Rugby Conference (MARC) is contesting its league championship this Saturday, and both finalists, Kutztown and Bloomsburg, are guaranteed spots in the Round of 16. It’s not actually a big deal, as the MARC certainly deserves two seeds in the national tournament – whether they both deserve automatic bids into the top 16 is another question.

Of the two, Kutztown deserves the bye. The team that finished fourth in the 2013 ACRA championship is stronger than last year, and that fact is anchored in the return of now-healthy flyhalf Mary Cate Matta. Kutztown didn’t play any competitive games within MARC, even against Shippensburg during last weekend’s semifinal, which went Kutztown’s way to the tune of 63-0. It was a cold, rainy day, and the strength of forwards led the way. Flanker Jess Tolton scored four tries, while flanker Kristin Schmitz (2), prop Kate Ludwick and hooker Paige Trock scored tries. Scrumhalf Sharyn Boedeker scored a brace of tries as well, while wing Payton McCord dotted down one score. Matta had four conversions in tough conditions.

If Saturday’s MARC championship is in dry conditions, expect to see centers Beth Mulleady and Tabetha Super in that box score.

All credit goes to Bloomsburg for advancing to the conference final – and the national Round of 16 to boot – during its first DII season with MARC, but Kutztown will prove to be too much to handle this weekend.

In all likelihood, Kutztown will be sent to the Mid-Atlantic bracket as the MARC champion and meet the winner of an all-Massachusetts playoff: Stonehill College vs. Tufts. Tufts finished second in the New England Small Colleges conference, and have some scoring threats in Gracie Dietshe and Betsy Kirtland, but we’re picking Stonehill to triumph (read more on the team’s record-breaking season). The Skyhawks dominated the Rugby Northeast in its second-ever conference title, and Tufts won’t have enough firepower to derail Stonehill.

Should those scenarios play out, then Stonehill and Kutztown would play each other Nov. 15 at Vassar College. A year prior, Kutztown rallied from a first-quarter deficit to beat Stonehill 50-22 in the Round of 16, and the match-up will go a long way in terms of the teams’ relative improvement.

On the other side of the bracket Colgate hosts Vermont, and Vassar hosts Buffalo State. Colgate is a small, shifty team, and coach Anne-Marie Lemal Brown described her squad as a 7s team that plays 15s. That strategy works just fine until the weather turns, and size and power aid a tighter game – a lesson learned against Excelsior’s Cortland. But this weekend in Hamilton, N.Y., looks to be mid-40s and cloudy, but little chance for rain. Vermont has been tested as well, and will rely on players like Sarah Weiss, Lizzie Ambros, Amber Lampiris-Tremba, and Zoe Kreinberg to cross the tryline, but has spent the last season diffusing the pressure it typically places on a few star players. Expect to see a well rounded Vermont this Saturday.

We’re leaning toward Colgate, not just because of home-field advantage, but because they’ve been a little more consistent and topped a conference that has upped its competition. Read more about Colgate's and Vermont's transformative fall season.

Should Colgate indeed win, then it will face the victor of Vassar and Buffalo State. Both have played well in their conferences, and both have incurred some doubt late in the season. The Brewers relinquished its Tri-State conference title to Rutgers in a 38-15 loss last weekend. Head coach Tony Brown wrote, “Vassar players missed too many tackles, did not deal well with the kicking game, and gave up too many turnovers with Rutgers capitalizing.” Vassar is missing the star power of graduate Margaret Kwateng, but has seen players like junior center Cierra Thomas and her team-leading 14 tries help fill the void. Senior back row Meg Slattery and junior prop Darienne Jones have also stepped up their game and proved to be effective scorers this fall.

Buffalo State also finished second in its conference, losing one game to Ithaca College in Upstate New York. That loss, however, was respectable but also early in the season. Although the game didn’t count toward standings, Buffalo State also lost to DI Syracuse (by one point), a team that Ithaca defeated 47-5. Still, Buffalo State is enjoying a special year, one in which they’re hitting their stride cohesion wise, and will be tough when nationals is on the line.

Both teams have had to hit the practice field with vigor, shoring up some vulnerabilities that losses expose, but we like Vassar coming out on top Saturday.

To summarize, by Saturday night, we expect to see following match-ups in the Mid-Atlantic’s Round of 16 (Nov. 15 @ Vassar College): Kutztown vs. Stonehill and Colgate vs. Vassar. On Nov. 16, the victors will play in the quarterfinals.

For the entire brackets, click here.