CRAA Women Playoffs Offer Intriguing Matchup and Some Surprises
CRAA Women Playoffs Offer Intriguing Matchup and Some Surprises
CRAA oversees three women's playoff brackets, two of which kick off this weekend.
D1 Elite
The D1 Elite semifinal are set for November 19 with the final December 3 in Charlotte, NC.
D1
The D1 will see the first round this weekend with Virginia Tech taking on University of Connecticut and Navy playing Air Force.
This is a relatively young Air Force team but one Head Coach Amy Rusert says has a ton of potential and reminds her of the championship teams she had a few years ago. Navy, meanwhile, has had a tough run of games and it 4-4, with those four losses being to three NIRA varsity programs (a competition Navy will join next season) and one to varsity D1 Elite team Central Washington. They have beaten Lander, West Chester, New Haven, and Virginia Tech.
Marissa Meyer has scored five tries in her last three matches and seven for the season. The Middies won the CRAA D1 playoff last year, beating Davenport in the final.
Waiting for the winners of those games are Utah State, which defeated Air Force to be the top team in the West, and Northeastern, which has been almost unstoppable in the Northeast.
"We had some big goals coming into this season," said Northeastern club president Grace Pattarini. "They were mostly making sure we continued with the level of play that we had last year. We had some great retention and even better recruitment, similar to last year and we have had a consistent roster of 80 at every practice and have held multiple scrimmages against our B and C sides. I think our biggest achievement has been the continuity and depth of our team. Almost all the forwards can play just about any position in the pack. Our scrums and lineouts are strong and creative and we work really well in our 1-3-3-1 formation. Our backs have been perfecting our playbook from last year while adding in a lot more creativity for their lines."
D2
And in case you thought playoff bracket difficulties only occurred in one area, have a look at the women's D2. The bracket GRR posted a week ago is obsolete. The new bracket includes a four-team play-in weekend for one more spot in the first round. And they won't be playing a double weekend. Instead UMass Lowell will play Vermont and Fairfield will play Kutztown. The team that moves on will be determined by bonus points and points difference (and some metrics based on ball possession, tackle efficiency, set piece success, and line breaks). Seriously. This is unique and we at GRR have never seen this before.
Meanwhile, the bracket itself has been completely shifted. It since the playoffs were changed from a two-game weekend for the quarterfinals and semis to a two-game weekend for the semifinals and final, that set up a potential two-travel situation for Colorado School of Mines. That's expensive, so Mines got a bye to the semis. To even things out, Coast Guard, which won the Northeast, also gets a bye to play Mines in the semis.
Also getting a bye to the semis are defending champs Vassar.
The top team, them, from the metric-measured November 12 games will play Providence College on November 19. The winner of that game will play the winner of Temple and Colorado Mesa.
We told you it was a little strange.
