Marist won an exciting final of the Tri State Conference, beating Albany 20-10 to take the championship this past weekend.

With the weather finally turning warmer, it was a perfect day for 7s at Fairfield University. Sixteen teams took part in the event, with four pools of four.

Fairfield provided the fields, medical coverage as well as security. The Fairfield women's team, their coaches and the school administration, particularly Jon Dinihan, put in a ton of work to make it all happen.

In pool play Vassar College Women, the University at Albany Women, Marist College Women and Siena College Women all went 3-0 and topped their respective pool.

Marist scored 123 points in the three games. Albany scored 102, and conceded zero.

The quarterfinals saw the four pool winners play the second placed teams from another pool. First up was Vassar versus Stony Brook and the former, the defending Tri-State 7s Champions, had a tough game falling behind 19-12 with just a few minutes left. But the Brewers rallied and clinched the game 24-19.

The University at Albany finished Hofstra's day with a solid 29-7 win and that game was followed by Marist beating the hosts 29-0. SUNY-New Paltz upset the form book as they defeated Siena College 22-10. New Paltz had been a runner-up while Siena had won their pool.

The semifinals pitted Albany against Vassar and Marist against New Paltz. Albany jumped ahead of Vassar 5-0 and it was only in the second half that Vassar tied it at 5-5. But Albany capitalized on a couple of errors and two more tries made it 17-5 and a trip to the final for the Great Danes. Marist took on Mid-Hudson rivals New Paltz and ran amok. The Red Foxes thumped the Hawks 43-0 and entered the final as firm favorites.

Marist and Albany were clearly the best two teams at the championship and with Cat Sum refereeing this was always going to be a good game. Neeither team disappointed. Marist looked the fresher of the teams and jumped ahead 15-0 as the teams switched ends at the half. Albany rallied with a try and it was 15-5. A spilled pass in the Marist 22 brought a groan as Albany looked on the verge of staging a grandstand finish. But Marist countered, 20-5 and although Albany got one more it was too little too late.