This is a good weekend in NIRA action with three conference D-I games, one key D-II game, and two that are cross-divisional.

Harvard was a little bit shocked after being held to a tie against Quinnipiac, and Friday they visit Sacred Heart looking to rebound. SHU won big over Princeton, with the usual suspects contributing on the scoresheet—Alyssa Cunningham scored 20 on her own.

Sacred Heart Ready to Keep Climbing: Cunningham

This is a SHU team that is likely better this fall than they were last fall. But ... that's no guarantee against a really talented Harvard side.

Princeton is at Dartmouth and currently the Princeton program is still building and still young. Dartmouth is favored there.

Queens, as we pointed out last week, started very strong and could be nicely poised to log another surprise win. 

Program Spotlight: Keep an Eye on Queens-Charlotte Women in NIRA

Brown, which fell behind to Quinnipiac in their opening match August 31 only to salvage a 17-17 tie, wasn't thrilled with a tie but had to have felt good about their resilience. They didn't panic, but got back into the game and even took the lead. Quinnipiac scored late to get the tie. Overall Brown likely thinks they should be able to play wide better, but Queens is very good in the open field.

Outside D-I

West Chester at AIC is a repeat of the 2022 D-II final. The Rams opened their season with a 41-20 loss to D-I Long Island University. Key for West Chester was that they kept at it and scored a couple of late tries. AIC, meanwhile, played New Haven and won big, which is a good start for a very, very young squad.

Bowdoin takes on New Haven in a D-III vs D-II game. Both teams lost by wide margins last week—Bowdoing played Dartmouth, New Haven AIC. So really those were both harsh lessons and this week is a chance to see what they learned.

And then we have a really intriguing cross-divisional game. Davenport looks very strong once again and they play wide and fast. Last week they played a round-robin series of scrimmages with Adrian and Aquinas. Debutante Alopa Nau scored three tries on the day.

"The purpose of this scrimmage was to push our athletes out of their comfort zones and see how they handle different pressures and responsibilities on the field," said Davenport Head Coach Greg Teliczan. "We have a talented roster, and this is a great way to identify which combinations might work best moving forward."

Army is coming off a huge win over Mount St. Mary's; Chloe de Leon and Alissa Eisenhart featured heavily on the scoresheet. Head Coach Bill LeClerc was circumspect in his response to the win.

"I'm happy that we played some really good rugby here on Senior Day," said LeClerc. "I'm happy that we played such a good game here at Anderson [Rugby Complex] and that the girls got to play so well in front of their parents so they could see what all of our hard work is for."

But, he added, that Davenport "will be a whole other challenge."

While that isn't a conference game, it's an important once for both.