This weekend is it. The fall and spring college champions will meet at Kennesaw State this Saturday and contest the women’s DI and DII national championships. First-year varsity program Central Washington will challenge reigning DI titleholder Penn State, while UC Riverside will attempt to continue its spring winning streak against Notre Dame College.

The West Coast champions are familiar entities, and the pair ran out their top squads two weekends ago in Pittsburgh. Both Penn State and Notre Dame College have been active during the spring, playing some 7s tournaments and the like, but viewers will have to reacquaint themselves with the teams that were peaking in Florida last December.

“It’s different when you’re in-season and then go right to nationals,” Notre Dame College coach Mark Andrade reflected on his team’s first-ever trip to the post-season. “There’s this euphoria – that I’m sure UC Riverside is feeling right now – that you can overcome anything. With the split season, it’s really surreal. You know you have this title game, but you’ve only been playing friendlies and tournaments [in the spring], and you don’t have that feeling that you’re accomplishing something to get to this goal. It’s just hard to adjust.”

The Falcons also look very different from the fall season. A few players fell off of the DI side due to grades and season-ending injuries, and that changes the dynamic of the team. Notre Dame is missing some very influential players, notably in the forwards: locks Hannah Long and Stephanie Kronenberger, flanker Karmin Macedo (broken hand), scrumhalf Mariah Eckrich, hooker Kawena Mendiola (ACL), and flanker Rebecca Swainson (who returned to New Zealand). Players are moving around – Brittany Kapsalis is returning to her roots at scrumhalf – but the Falcons have some talented depth.

“We’ll be limping in, but we’ll be ready,” Andrade said. “I think we have a good game plan, and attack and defense program. It’ll come down to the players’ dynamic and how they work together.”

One element did play into the Falcons’ favor. Being based in Ohio, Andrade was able to scout Riverside during its spring final four campaign.

“They insert their 15 [Michelle Hong] a lot,” Andrade noted. “She has some speed and a good step – we’ll be watching for that. Their 10 [Desiree Millan] also seems like a good ball-handler and knowledgeable. We’ll be matching up with her and keeping her hands full. They like to kick to touch every chance they get. With our old lineup – with Karmin and Steph jumping – it would have been an advantage for us, but now we have to see if we’ll have a strong enough lineup.”

Andrade suspects that the game will be closer than comfortable, but is also confident in leaders like Lea Walsh, Patsy Ford, and Hannah Gauthreaux, who will buoy the team toward a victory. It will be both teams’ first appearance at the USA Rugby national championship, and the DII game will occur at 10 a.m. ET. The DI final will kick off at 2 p.m. ET (read more about Penn State and Central Washington).

Converse to what was previously reported, Notre Dame College did not accept its invitation to the USA Rugby college 7s championship, as it had committed to the CRC 7s back in December and its funds are drying up. The DI finalists will make the trip to Denver for the May 23-24 7s event and be favorites in the 16-team women's open division.