CRAA Women's D2 Playoff Bracket Finalized
CRAA Women's D2 Playoff Bracket Finalized
The CRAA Women's D2 playoff brackets have been finalized, with a quarterfinal-semifinal-final sequence, as well as two key play-in games.
The championship match will be played at the CRAA Championship Weekend in Charlotte, NC the weekend of December 3-4, along with a series of men's bowl games and the finals for D1, D2, and D1 Elite women.
The two play-in games will be between Rugby Northeast #2 and NEWCRC #2, and also MARC #2 vs Tri-State #2.
Conference champions from those four conferences go straight to the quarterfinals. So, too, do the top two from the Rocky Mountain Conference, which gets both teams into the quarters because the travel involved in setting up a play-in is prohibitive.
NEWCRC right now sees last year's top two probably vying for those seeds again—Vermont and Coast Guard. Last weekend Vermont edged the USCGA 18-10 in a tense encounter and that certainly signals that UVM is in solid form. Alta Godfrey contributed a try and a penalty goal for Vermont, while Gabby Viale and Sophia Tenuta also touched down in the win.
The top two from last season were Colorado School of Mines and Colorado Mesa. Mines, certainly, looks strong as they just beat Mesa 65-29.
Last year's ACRA winner (which is essentially what this playoff is) was Vassar, and the Brewers are 3-0 and coming off an impressive defeat of RPI by the tune of 48-15. Asian Baker and Sophia Bailey each scored three tries in that encounter. RPI showed some toughness and still has a path to one of those top seeds. Right now RPI is 2-1, right behind Vassar and a very skilled Fairfield, also 3-0.
That's all in the North Division. In the South, Montclair State leads with a 3-0 record with Siena and Stony Brook close behind at 2-1 each. Siena and Montclair State face off this weekend. Fordham leads the Central with a 3-0 record with a difficult 10-5 win over New Haven the highlight. Keep an eye out also for Columbia which had to forfeit their first two games but then turned around to beat Fairfield by 30, so could be a contender.
With so many teams in the Tri-State, 18 in all, they have a robust playoff system with quarterfinals on October 30 and the semifinal-final weekend November 5-6.
In the MARC keep an eye on Kutztown, who won a big one over St. Joseph's, Temple, who won well over Rowan, and Bloomsburg.
And in Rugby Northeast, Providence College leads the way with a 3-0 record, while Wheaton (2-0) and UMass Lowell (2-1) lurk close behind. Providence is paced by the try-scoring acumen of Adelis Ortiz Liriano (13 tries in three games) and the attacking flair and boot of Grace Russo. Providence beat Lowell 45-10 last week.
There is a detailed article on Providence's emergence as a power on The Rugby Breakdown here>>
