Let's Find Some Front-Runners in the NCR Women D1 Playoffs
Let's Find Some Front-Runners in the NCR Women D1 Playoffs
How much of a forgone conclusion is the NCR Women's D1 playoff?
Well, be careful. It seems a straight shot for Notre Dame College in 2022 and it didn't work out that way. Michigan's overall team pace outstripped the Falcons to win the championship last fall, and the Wolverines aren't all that different this year.
They rolled through Adrian, Indiana, Notre Dame, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Purdue. The only team that game them any problem was Iowa (24-19). Michigan has dealt with season-ending injuries to Cynthia Deneus and Gopari Abari (Senior that just missed the cut to nationals last year but was on the rise to earn the starting 6 spot).
Of course they returned Sorensen Award finalist Ember Larson as well as all-Big-10 selections Maddie Bowers and Barb Ribeiro, and they play fast. They also seem to have done a good job to go with the flow.
"Collegiate Club rugby is, in many ways, full of surprises from August to December where the only thing that's constant is change," said Michigan Head Coach Jamie Frech. "By the time we get to St. Louis, we'll have at least five newly-minted players on our roster, but that's also what makes it so thrilling."
Elkhart, Ind. hosts the Eastern quarterfinals while St. Louis hosts the West.
Joining Michigan in the West will probably be Northern Iowa and Southern Nazarene. (Almost all the teams in the playoffs are actually in the Midwest, so "East" and "West" is pretty fungible, with teams like Iowa State and a to-be-named play-in probably the slider teams.) Southern Nazarene comes in after beating Texas A&M 78-0 in a play-in. The Thunder Cats have lost just once, to Lindenwood, and beat A&M, Texas, Wayne State, LSU, and two via forfeit. No one has come within 50 points. The midfield pairing of Ella Gilliland and Telesi Uhatafe has been deadly; Uhatafe is very quick and a try-scorer, while Gilliland was named SNU's Athlete of the Week after the win over A&M.
Northern Iowa is the Midwest champion and is looking to try to match the speed and work rate of Michigan, which undid them last year.
On the Eastern side of the break, which will play their quarters and semis in Elkhart November 10 and 12, Notre Dame College and Virginia head the list, with likely Indiana and perhaps an at-large to round it all out. UVA moved from CRAA to NCR this year. They qualified for, but did not play, the CRAA spring final in 2023 and in 2022. A fall playoff might well work better for them. They had all they could handle with an early loss to North Carolina, but the Cavs rebounded to beat JMU, NC State, Virginia Tech, and, last weekend, Clemson 38-12. That was the big one that moved them on and center Carrie Morrison, lock Maille Bowerman, and a powerful front row set the tone.
Notre Dame College might be coming in a bit undercooked. They had five games on their schedule, but one was canceled so they played only four—beating Adrian, Bowling Green, Pitt, and Kent State by wide margins. Kent State was closest at 24-7. Rosa Treece missed her first year with an ACL tear but is showing well at halfback. Alivia Leatherman just got her first cap for the USA and should be back to tear it up in the front row, Charlee McCormick is a season veteran now with a scoring touch, and Paula Nieves is leading by example. Meanwhile Lucy Leatherman is emerging as a star in her own right. Some solid recruiting has bolstered this NDC side and they are decidedly deeper than in the last couple of years.
