It was a busy weekend for Men's DII college teams looking to qualify for the USA Rugby College 7s Championships in Cary, NC.

Joining Wisconsin-Whitewater and Minnesota-Duluth in the championship, Marist defeated Vassar 24-14 to win the Tri-State; Salve Regin defeated Endicott to win the CCRC; UMass-Lowell needed overtime to beat Bentley and win Rugby Northeast.

In the NECRC, Coast Guard emerged winners. New Hampshire came into that tournament having made the final of the Scott Milley 7s, and looked to be one of the favorites. Coast Guard, in that same tournament, lost every game, hurt as they were by the absence of 17 graduating players. 

Coast Guard had one A-side 15s player available this spring, and four players who were new to the game.

Because the tournament only had six teams in two pools of three, a team needed to only win one game to make the semis. Coast Guard, however, surprised many by beating Boston University and Norwich to win their pool. Vermont defeated UNH and Rhode Island to win their pool.

In the semis, Coast Guard ran out to a 19-0 lead, but New Hampshire saw some holes i the USCGA defense, and came back, scoring three tries. However, Coast Guard added one more and held on 24-17.

Vermont got by Norwich to set up the final.

CGA came out the gate running and took a 12-5 lead, with UVM scoring just before the end of the first half. Almost immediately after the second half kickoff, UVM drew a yellow card for high tackle as CGA entered the try zone for another score.  CGA took advantage of the situation and scored twice more before UVM managed to score once more. It was a fairly comprehensive 34-10 win for Coast Guard.

So Coast Guard is back to nationals.

In the Upper Midwest, a series of warmups are underway before the final in a couple of weeks. This weekend, UW-Milwaukee edged one of DI UW-Madison's second sides in the final of the Milwaukee 7s 10-7. Northern Michigan beat out UW-Platteville in sudden death to take 3rd. Obviously this region is pretty tight.

Below, the UW-Milwukee team post-tournament.