The season is still young for those spring-oriented conferences, but a few DI colleges showed their hand in last weekend's games. The entire Pacific Mountain Conference is contesting league games on Saturday, and the South is joining the fray as well.

Two games occurred during the opening weekend of the Pacific Mountain Conference (PMC) South division: Arizona vs. UC San Diego, and Arizona State vs. UC Santa Barbara. The former wasn’t much of a fight, as the Tritons banked a 41-5 victory; however, the latter held some drama.

It took a full 20 minutes before the scoreboard lit up, and it was the Sun Devils who did the scoring. Haley Young-Miller dotted down the first try of the season, and on the ensuing kickoff, Amber Przyborki tore away for another five points. Tayla Wylie’s conversion gave ASU a 12-0 lead over the course of a few minutes.

But the hosts were far from dampened, and UCSB’s Ema Arenchild began to exert her will. In minute 26, she hit the first of her two first-half penalties, and just before the half, she dotted down the first of her two tries. A try from ASU wing Stephanie Erhueh broke up Arenchild’s scoring spree, bringing the halftime score to 17-11, ASU.

But that back-and-forth ended in the second stanza, as Arizona State’s Kaitlin Sigado, Przyborki and Rebecca Cooper added tries, and Wylie tacked on a conversion, 34-11. Arenchild had the final say, converting her own try in the 79^th minute, 34-18 to ASU.

The Sun Devils travel to Tucson for an always-heated match against a young Wildcat team this Saturday.

Washington State shut out Washington 69-0 to restart its PMC North campaign. The Cougars improved to 3-1 and now look ahead to Oregon, a team that it beat 24-14 in early November. The Dirty Ducks are 2-2, and it’ll be interesting to gauge the teams’ progress since their last meeting.

“Oregon always gives us a tough game,” WSU coach Conor Bollinger-Smith said. “They are a well coached opponent that always brings a high level of physicality and heart to the match. We know both teams have been working hard to improve, so anything could happen. We're just trying to improve each week and take it game by game. We're looking forward to the match.”

The PMC West starts its season this weekend, and all eyes turn to Stanford. The Cardinal spent the fall filling some important player gaps – notably No. 8 Aly Gleason, prop Maxine Fonua and wing Michelle Teo – and that progress was measured during the team’s title run at its Stanford Invitational. Flyhalf Nikki Richardson was particularly inspiring, but so were a handful of newcomers.

“We’ve welcomed in some very strong new players and athletes,” Stanford coach Matt Sherman said. “Coming in with some previous experience are Olivia Bernadel-Huey and Maki Asrat – both from Bishop O’Dowd – who have been able to make an immediate impact. There are many other new strong athletes who are working very hard, adding to the team culture, and will push to have a significant impact on the team.  On the whole, I think we have a lot of developing depth and internal competition, and while we might not have the traditional one or two stars who carry the team, our strength appears to lie in a team-first approach where everyone contributes.”

Stanford opens up its season against UC Davis on the road, while Cal travels to Chico State. The Golden Bears exerted their dominance during the fall 7s season, winning two national qualifiers, so we’ll see how that translates to 15s. Chico State warmed up in Oregon last weekend and toughed out a muddy 17-10 win over OSU.

“I think the best part of our conference is that year after year, every team is strong and capable of challenging for a conference championship,” Sherman said. “I think this year is no different, and all teams looked strong at our recent invitational.”

Also jumpstarting its matrix season is the South Independent Rugby Conference (SIRC). The DI and DII competitions look solid this year, and both are introducing new teams. In DI, it’s all about Life University, which posted some solid wins in the fall and enters its first league season. The game to watch will occur on Feb. 21, when the Running Eagles travel to Central Florida, the traditional leader in the South.

Life and Florida get Saturday off, but UCF is favored over Florida State, while Georgia Tech should have the edge over Tennessee in this opening weekend.