The University of Vermont won the 5th Annual Scott Milley Sevens and with the victory earned an invitation to the USA Rugby DII College Championship.

Upset-special team Johnson and Wales against New Hampshire. Bruce Johnston photo.

The tournament was hosted by the University of New Hampshire rugby team and run by club president, Matthew Johnston, who is a freshman. The tournament is named after Scott Milley, who was a captain of the UNH rugby team and part of the school's ROTC program. Commissioned a lieutenant in the USA Army, Milley was killed in action November 30, 2010 in Afghanistan. The tournament raises funds for the LT Scott F. Milley Ranger Foundation, which provides scholarships for needy students and supports other worthy causes.   

This year, 29 teams in brackets for men and women participated in the tournament, with over $10,000 raised for the foundation.

The Men's College A-side bracket consisted of: Middlebury, Rhode Island, Westfield State, Stonehill, Johnson and Wales, Vermont, UMass-Lowell, Colby-Sawyer, Keene State, and Bowdoin.

It was a mixture of DI and DII and small-college teams, and included several upsets throughout pool play. 

And it didn't stop there. In the quarterfinals, 8th-seeded Johnson and Wales defeated to top-seed UMass-Lowell. The other higher seeds all won their quarterfinals, with Norwich defeating Rhode Island, Middlebury defeating Stonehill, and UMV beating Keene State.

So that set up the semifinals, with Vermont and Middlebury making it an all-Green Mountain State championship game.

Johnson and Wales pulled off another surprise in the 3rd/4th game, defeating Norwich. Meanwhile, in the final, Vermont defeated Middlebury 14-0 to finish the day 5-0.

UVM joins Southern Illinois and St. Louis University as DII 7s qualifier winners. Four more qualifiers are slated for this coming weekend.