Falcons Head South for DII Semis
Notre Dame College is heading back to Florida after its 2-0 weekend at the USA Rugby Women’s DII College Fall Championship, hosted by ACRA. The Ohio side is the only semifinalist that won its games convincingly – but that’s not to say that the games weren’t competitive.
DI Playoff Preview: Air Force vs Northern Iowa
Vic Tise has learned a lot about his team in the past few weeks. The new Air Force coach took over for Lisa Rosen this fall and led his team to a 4-4 record. The Zoomies won the games they should have won and lost the games they should have lost, but that’s not to say the team didn’t improve throughout the season. Heading into the Round of 16 of the USA Rugby Women’s DI College Fall Championship, hosted by ACRA, Air Force hopes to tip that .500 average toward a winning record.
Attention shifted toward Air Force when it defeated Navy on its home turf, but then three consecutive losses to BYU, New Mexico and Army drew questions of the team’s competitiveness. Those defeats, however, were hugely educational – especially on defense – for a team that had to scramble with its roster.
DI Preview: Norwich Headlines NE Nationals
Two conferences are represented in the Northeast region of the USA Rugby Women’s DI College Fall Championship, hosted by ACRA, Round of 16. The Northeast conference sent its first-, second- and fourth-place teams: Norwich, American International College (AIC) and UCONN, respectively. The Ivy League is represented by conference finalist Dartmouth.
NORWICH is the reigning ACRA champion, and during its 9-1 season, the Cadets have shown that they’re as clinical as ever. But what of the team’s one loss? That came against USA Rugby DI champion Penn State, 43-27, one in which Norwich led during the second half. The Cadets are hungry for a rematch, but Norwich has some work to do before it starts thinking about the title.
DI Preview: Mid-Atlantic Region Replays Fall Friendlies
The Mid-Atlantic region of the USA Rugby Women’s DI College Fall Championship, hosted by ACRA, feels familiar. That’s because the two Round of 16 matches – Quinnipiac vs. Army and Navy vs. Brown – have occurred in friendly form this fall.
QUINNIPIAC has actually played two of the Mid-Atlantic teams – Army and Navy – and won both by big margins. In early September the Bobcats beat the Cadets 50-17 behind the three-try performance of All American Natalie Kosko; and a couple of weekends ago defeated the Midshipmen 99-19, thanks to seven tries from loose forward Shannon Durkin.
WSU v CWU: League Lead Up for Grabs
Saturday’s game between Washington State and Central Washington is one of two that will essentially decide the Pacific Mountain North conference. The pair are the best DI women's teams in the region – one, the reigning champion; the other, the upstart challenger. The sides played an early-season friendly, and while both wrote off the lopsided result, it lent insight into their personnel, and as importantly, into their top rival's potential.
Lucky Iowa State Taking Playoffs Seriously
Iowa State is feeling pretty lucky right now. The Midwest’s #2 team had applied for, and was denied, an at-large bid to the USA Rugby Women’s DI College Fall Championship, hosted by ACRA. Up until last week, the season was over for ISU, but then Texas A&M dropped out of the West bracket, and a spot opened up.
“We lobbied hard to get in, as we knew Northern Iowa was the first bid,” Iowa State coach Mark Wibholm said of the Midwest champion. “We were willing to travel anywhere just to get a seed. I think that determination showed on the field as well.”
ISU turned heads when it played UNI to an 8-0 loss in the teams’ first game of the season.
“UNI was a tough match, and they are the gold standard for the Midwest conference,” Wibholm said. “I know there were some opportunities that we missed, but we were lucky on a few missed opportunities they had as well.”
Women DI College Top 20 - Nov. 12, 2014
Some drastic changes occurred in the Women’s DI College rankings, thanks to some surprise results and close games. Central Washington and New Mexico made big leaps up the Top 20, but their final rankings deserve some explanation.
CWU hosted Quinnipiac for one of the most thrilling games of the fall. Down 17-5 at half, the Wildcats shut out the visitors in the second stanza and tied it up in the third quarter. With two minutes remaining in regulation, Junior All American Ashley Rolsma dotted down for the 22-17 win.
Will Conference Strength Influence OSU v Lindenwood?
Saturday will name the quarterfinalists for the USA Rugby Women’s DI College Fall Championship, hosted by ACRA. In the Midwest region, there’s a contrast of Round of 16 games. In one corner, there’s a David vs. Goliath scenario: Long-standing powerhouse and current DI champion Penn State plays young Kent State (read more). The other corner appears similar: Illinois champ Lindenwood playing Big Ten #3 Ohio State, but the relative strengths of each conference have prepared the teams in different manners.
The Big Ten is a long season, but Ohio State got ahead of the schedule and played visiting Canadian university York College twice. York went deep into the Canadian playoffs and won both matches against the Buckeyes by less than a try.
Playoff Preview: Penn State vs. Kent State
This weekend, many of the country’s top teams will be competing in the USA Rugby Women’s DI College Fall Championship, hosted by ACRA. The Round of 16 kicks off Saturday and will culminate in a Dec. 7 final. The fall champion will advance to the title match on May 9 and play the winner of the Spring Championship, which begins in April. The team to beat - in the fall and spring - is Penn State, and Kent State is the first side to take a swing at the three-time consecutive champion (eight overall).
New Mexico Retains Mountain West Title
New Mexico is proof that, any given day, any team can win. The Lobos nearly saw its 30-29 win over Mountain West power Women’s Cougar Rugby slip away in the final moments of the game, when BYU lined up a 22-meter penalty. But the rugby gods blew the wind in the host’s favor, and New Mexico won its second consecutive league title.
“I knew coming into this match, it was going to be a close one,” New Mexico assistant coach Maria Clifcorn said. “BYU is always a difficult team to play, and we knew this was going to be our toughest fall match.”
Both teams were undefeated heading into the conference final, and BYU had impressed with a 36-19 win over top-five Quinnipiac. But the Utah team looked a little different on Saturday.
Arkansas Reps Mid-America at Natl's
A 2-0 weekend saw Arkansas unseat reigning champion Nebraska for the Mid-America title. The Razorbacks continue their playoff run with automatic entry into this weekend’s national Round of 16 at Northern Iowa, the West regional sight for the USA Rugby Women’s DII College Fall Championship, hosted by ACRA.
Arkansas had compiled an undefeated record heading into the conference semifinals, so a double victory was expected. The Fayetteville-based team outdid itself against Central Missouri, going up 31-0 at halftime and nearly matching the points-scored in the second half for the 60-0 win. On the other side of the bracket, Nebraska was busy dismantling Missouri 73-17 in an equally impressive win.
NDC v Davenport, a Long-Awaited Showdown
While there is still plenty of opening-round playoff games to review, there’s one Round of 16 game that is building too much hype to ignore: Notre Dame College vs. Davenport. The Midwest sides combined for 232 points on Saturday, and didn’t surrender a point-against during the USA Rugby Women’s DII College Fall Championship, hosted by ACRA, Round of 32. The teams have yet to play a competitive DII side this fall, but hopefully that will all change this Saturday.
Although both programs are young, the teams already have some history. Last March, Davenport defeated Notre Dame College by 20 points in an early-season friendly. The Falcons went on to beat the Panthers twice in an April 7s national qualifier (33-12, 24-17).
But as Davenport coach Greg Teliczan affirmed: Last year was last year.
Quinnipiac Overtakes West Chester
One of the more interesting games to occur this weekend involved DI playoff-bound Quinnipiac – although all of the Bobcats’ games this season have been interesting. As an independent, the Bobcats have had the freedom to play anyone, anywhere. An ambitious schedule has yielded some losses, but the team is better for it, and that improvement came through in the team’s 36-17 win over then-undefeated West Chester Saturday.
“I think this season has been some of our best rugby because of our challenging schedule,” Quinnipiac coach Becky Carlson said. “We are grateful to be able to travel and see some of the toughest teams, which normally most programs do not get to meet until post-season.”
Kutztown Captures Elusive MARC Title
Kutztown is familiar with finals. The women’s team made its third consecutive appearance in the MARC championship game, but Saturday’s match finally went Kutztown’s way. After falling behind early on, Kutztown finished with a 45-7 win and first-ever conference title. Both finalists head to the USA Rugby Women’s DII College Fall Championship, hosted by ACRA, entering the competition in the Round of 16. Kutztown will compete in the Mid-Atlantic region, while Bloomsburg heads to the Northeast region.
Game of the Weekend: Colgate vs. Vermont
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.
