Bowdoin is 3-0 in the New England Small College (NESC) conference, and there’s little doubt that the Polar Bears will repeat as league champion again this fall. Bowdoin’s most recent win came against Amherst, which forfeited due to numbers and combined with the Brunswick, Maine, side for a friendly.

“Playing in a relatively weak conference has its challenges, so we scrimmaged Harvard and University of Prince Edward Island, and may look to practice or scrimmage with a local women’s team,” Bowdoin coach MaryBeth Mathews informed.

Those collegiate scrimmages occurred at the beginning of September, and since then, Bowdoin has defeated Tufts 80-5 and Middlebury 43-0. Three more matches against Colby, Maine-Orono, and Williams are slated before the NESC championship on Nov. 7.

Leading the way is Collegiate All American Addison Carvajal, former Conference Player of the Year Anna Piotti, leading try- and point-scorer Paige Pfannenstiel, and scrumhalf Emily King. Look for expert leadership in props Pamela Zabala and Vianney Gomezgil Yaspik, the only Bowdoin player with high school experience.

“Relative to previous years, Bowdoin should remain strong in 2015, even having graduated some good talent at key positions last year,” Mathews continued. “Playing well into the post-season each year, and often during a study-abroad semester as a junior, adds to their experience level, as well as sets the tone for new players on the team. We'll use the conference season to sort out positions and look forward to what the post-season brings.”

What the post-season brings is still unclear. Bowdoin and the majority of DII teams play toward the fall championship, but USA Rugby has not released much information about playoffs. The only thing that has been published is the date of the championship weekend: Dec. 5-6. The championship site, however, has not been published. But a lot happens before then: The Round of 32 starts on Nov. 14, with the higher seed hosting the lower seed, and then the regional playoffs (Round of 16 and quarterfinals) follow on Nov. 22-23. But with less than a month before the playoffs begin, there is no published info on seeds, brackets, or sites. More on that to come.

UPDATE (10.13): See DII brackets here.