The Women’s DII College game of the weekend occurred between Colgate and Vermont during the USA Rugby Fall Championship, hosted by ACRA. The first round of playoffs is often rife with unbalanced matchups and lopsided scores – but that’s not what happened in Hamilton, N.Y., yesterday.

The Excelsior champ hosted the New England Wide finalist, but that luxury soon turned into a burden. The forecast for Saturday was for an inch of snow; 4-6 inches fell and took four hours to remove in order to prepare the pitch. One might conclude that Colgate was at a disadvantage, but Vermont was battling its own misfortunes.

“Forced to begin without a third of our starters due to car issues, rookies started their first A-side game for the playoff game, and everyone was amazed,” Vermont forward captain Darienne Martin said. “I’ve never seen rookies adapt so easily to an A-side game and play with as much passion and commitment as they did. … The game proved how much of a team we’ve become over the past few months - flowing and working together.”

But it would be overstatement to say either team flowed, at least in the manner to which they’re accustomed. With the slow, muddy conditions, it was difficult to spread the ball quickly, a reality that hampered Colgate’s 7s-like game.

“The two teams have different playing styles and neither was able to utilize their own over the other,” Colgate coach Anne-Marie Lemal Brown said. “The majority of UVM’s game was played by their forwards. They tended to give the ball to their largest players to ruck and maul up the pitch.”

What resulted was a long stalemate that extended into the fourth quarter, as the two sides relentlessly battered each other. Finally, with 15 minutes left in the game, Colgate surrendered a costly penalty in front of its posts. Vermont scrumhalf Sarah Weiss lined up the kick and slotted the penalty for the 3-0 lead, and win.

“The kick was especially difficult due to the cold conditions, and initially we didn’t know if a kick was possible with Sarah’s feet being considerably numb,” Martin said.

“The score is very indicative of the closeness of the game,” Vermont backs captain Danielle Marini said. “Turnovers and penalties occurred from both teams – I think greatly influenced by the weather – but those penalties certainly did not lead to one team having more success or more possession of the ball over the other. … [I]n the end we ended up having more penalties called on us. Colgate put up a very fierce game and that one penalty that led to our win does not reflect how great of a game they played.”

For Marini, a senior, this is the first playoff trip she's enjoyed with Vermont. UVM coach Douglas Shimmel has coached during the Sweet 16, and beyond, but national playoffs is a first for all of the Vermont players.

Vassar is not new to playoffs. The Brewers await in the Round of 16 and are coming off a 39-14 win over Buffalo State. The pair will face off on Nov. 15 at Vassar, where both the DI and DII regionals will be contested for the Mid-Atlantic region.

View the entire DII brackets here.