We're down to the CRAA Women's D1 semifinalists after three teams won quarterfinals Thursday and Friday.
While Life University got a bye to the semis after Arizona State forfeited, the other games did get played.
BYU defeated Cal Poly 52-7 in a game that was closer in the early going. The Cougars did score early but Cal Poly defended with enthusiasm to keep them in check for a while after that.
It wasn't until midway through the first half that there was any more scoring—Cal Poly had trouble getting the ball out of the back of a scrum-five and captain Abbi Whitney, the openside flanker, burst off the side to touch the ball down in-goal.
That was a lousy soft try to give up after the Mustangs had worked so hard to keep BYU away from the tryline.
Center Alyssa Hine was put through under the posts moments later. A dropped pass allowed Whitney to snag it and set up a movement that ended with scrumhalf Regan Molyneaux to stretch over in a pick-and-go.
A yellow card for a high tackle in the red zone didn't help Cal Poly at all, and as the half ended, center Dana Neff was over. Flyhalf Avery Morgan was a perfect 5-for-5 with her conversions and it was 35-0 at halftime.
BYU cruised from there to make the semis.
The Cougars will take on the Western Washington Vikings on Saturday. This was a game in which Claremont Colleges needed to be at the top of their skill game, and they looked impressive early with flyhalf and captain Laila Hannum fending off a couple of tacklers to get to paydirt.
That 7-0 lead held until the 22nd minute when some tough work from the forwards and some snappy passing from the backs put wing Maya Little into a gap for WWU's first try.
That made it 7-5 with Claremont Colleges still in the lead.
With halftime approaching a long sequence saw WWU work from their own 22 into the Foxes' zone. Center Clementine Radoff raced around the edge to to score an excellent team try. That made it 10-7 at the break.
