New-Look Fall for Northern Lights

08.15.2016College Men

The Northern Lights Men’s DII season kicks off in about a month with a slight change in how the league is organized.

The defending national DII champs, Minnesota-Duluth, is of course back, with tough opposition Mankato, Bemidji State, and North Dakota State hoping to bring UMD back down to earth.

But also in the Northern Lights top tier will be St. Thomas and St. John’s. Those two teams are in the National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO), and last year were in an NSCRO-specific league.

But St. John’s, which won the NSCRO national championships in 2013 and 2014, wanted more competition.

“One of the reasons we won NSCRO before was that we had strong competition,” said SJU Coach Dan Franklin. “I am really looking forward to this season because it will make us better.

Last year our competition wasn’t the strongest and we didn’t make it to NSCRO final four. This year, with Minnesota-Duluth, Bemidji State and others, we have better competition earlier.”

St. Thomas and Wisconsin-River Falls both followed St. John’s into the top tier. St. Thomas and St. John’s are big rivals in other sports, as well.

Those three teams will still pursue an NSCRO title in their postseason, but the consensus is that the presence of the stronger NSCRO teams will help the Northern Lights.

For SJU, this season will be a rebound year.

“We graduated our 9-10 combo and a prop, but the rest are coming back,” said Franklin. “And those guys have learned it’s not automatic.”

It won’t be automatic with the two-time defending DII champs Minnesota-Duluth in the league. UMD has undergone a big change, with Head Coach Jeramy Katchuba stepping down and Dean Walsh taking over. Katchuba will still have a role with the team, but certainly UMD will have to make some adjustments.

9/17/2016	St. Thomas	at	Winona	Northern Lights
9/17/2016	UND	at	Mankato	Northern Lights
9/17/2016	Bemidji	at	SCSU	Northern Lights
9/17/2016	NDSU	at	UMD	Northern Lights
9/17/2016	Southwest	at	Carleton	N-Lights Tier 2
9/17/2016	St. Scholastica	at	Gustavus	N-Lights Tier 2
9/17/2016	MSU - Moorhead	at	UofM - Morris	N-Lights Tier 2
9/17/2016	St. Olaf	at	Macalester	N-Lights Tier 2
9/17/2016	UWRF	at	St. Johns	N-Lights Tier 2
9/24/2016	UND	at	Winona	Northern Lights
9/24/2016	Mankato	at	Bemidji	Northern Lights
9/24/2016	St. Thomas	at	UWRF	Northern Lights
9/24/2016	UMD	at	SCSU	Northern Lights
9/24/2016	St. Johns	at	NDSU	Northern Lights
9/24/2016	Gustavus	at	Southwest	N-Lights Tier 2
9/24/2016	Carleton	at	St. Scholastica	N-Lights Tier 2
9/24/2016	MSU - Moorhead	at	St. Olaf	N-Lights Tier 2
9/24/2016	UofM - Morris	at	Macalester	N-Lights Tier 2
10/1/2016	Winona	at	UMD	Northern Lights
10/1/2016	Mankato	at	St. Thomas	Northern Lights
10/1/2016	Bemidji	at	UND	Northern Lights
10/1/2016	UWRF	at	NDSU	Northern Lights
10/1/2016	SCSU	at	St. Johns	Northern Lights
10/1/2016	St. Scholastica	at	Southwest	N-Lights Tier 2
10/1/2016	Gustavus	at	Carleton	N-Lights Tier 2
10/1/2016	St. Olaf	at	UofM - Morris	N-Lights Tier 2
10/1/2016	Macalester	at	MSU - Moorhead	N-Lights Tier 2
10/8/2016	Winona	at	Bemidji	Northern Lights
10/8/2016	St. Johns	at	Mankato	Northern Lights
10/8/2016	St. Thomas	at	UND	Northern Lights
10/8/2016	UWRF	at	UMD	Northern Lights
10/8/2016	NDSU	at	SCSU	Northern Lights
10/8/2016	Carleton	at	St. Olaf	N-Lights Tier 2
10/8/2016	UofM - Morris	at	St. Scholastica	N-Lights Tier 2
10/15/2016	Mankato	at	Winona	Northern Lights
10/15/2016	Bemidji	at	St. Thomas	Northern Lights
10/15/2016	UND	at	NDSU	Northern Lights
10/15/2016	SCSU	at	UWRF	Northern Lights
10/15/2016	UMD	at	St. Johns	Northern Lights
10/15/2016	Southwest	at	MSU - Moorhead	N-Lights Tier 2
10/15/2016	Macalester	at	Gustavus	N-Lights Tier 2

DII College, Men DII College, Minnesota-Duluth, Northern Lights, St. John's

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