Rankings Hold in WIIL QFs
Rankings Hold in WIIL QFs
The WIIL Conference is down to four as the quarterfinals wrapped up Saturday.
Wisconsin-Whitewater, ranked #2 by Goff Rugby Report, won comfortably, as expected, over DePaul 46-5 to book a spot in the semis. In a much closer game, Northern Michigan, ranked #13, needed overtime to get by #29 Illinois State.
Northern Iowa, ranked #12 by Goff Rugby Report, defeated Wisconsin-Platteville 29-17. It was a tight game early on with UNI leading 12-10 at the break in wet conditions. But the forward-oriented game started to slide Northern Iowa's way in the second period, bolstered by some strong goalkicking in difficult circumstances.
And then Saturday night, Lindenwood-Belleville made it four-for-four in terms of the higher-ranked team winning. The Lynx took care of #44 Wisconsin-Milwaukee 34-6. Alex Quinn and Reese Smith led the scoring charge for Lindenwood-Belleville, which, remember, is a brand new program with virtually no upperlcassmen with rugby experience, and a very heavily-freshman team. L-B faces Northern Michigan in the semifinals on November 7, while Whitewater takes on Northern Iowa in the other semi. The final is set for Sunday, November 8.
The 3rd-4th game will matter in this conference, as WIIL has three seeds to DII nationals.