A couple of conference championships highlight last weekend's DI action, and their results have unique playoff ramifications:

Penn State posted two 100-plus-point shutouts en route to another Big Ten conference trophy. The hosts defeated #4 Purdue 105-0 in Saturday’s semifinal, and #2 Indiana 108-0 Sunday for the title. Alix Tyson, Azniv Nalbandian, Gabby Cantorna, Kacy Dux, Katie Mueller, Kristina Perry, Scout Cheeks, Taylah Pipkin, and Tess Feury had multi-try weekends, while Aimee Little, Annaliese Zolgar, Carly Waters, Courtney Williams, and Megan Lowe also scored.

Notre Dame finished third, regrouping after a 36-22 loss to Indiana in the semifinals and defeating Purdue 43-24 on Sunday. Grace McGurn led all point-scorers, dotting down four tries, while Rachael Shey contributed 15 points on two tries, a penalty and conversion. Yasmin Lord recorded her first two career scores, while Olga Niyibizi, Meadow Jackson, Lillian Cronin, and Katie Loughran also added tries.

Playoff ramifications … Both Penn State and Indiana are heading to the DI Elite championship in the spring, and so Notre Dame takes the Big Ten seed to DI fall quarterfinals in Pittsburgh. Purdue was offered a berth to a play-in match this weekend against MAC champion Kent State, but declined. Michigan, which had dropped a single-digit contest to Purdue in regular season, took the play-in opening instead and will take on the Golden Flashes this weekend. The victor will head to DI quarterfinals.

Dartmouth won the Ivy Conference title in thrilling fashion, overcoming a 12-point halftime deficit to beat Brown 19-12 in injury time. Tries from Uzo Okoro and Saskia Morgan, along with Rebecca Dahle’s conversion, gave the Bears its 12-0 lead after 40 minutes. The Big Green tied it up when co-captains Tatjana Toeldte and Yeja Dunn scored, and Camille Johnson added the first of her two conversions. The remaining 20 minutes of regulation produced a stalemate, until Audrey Perez broke through in the 82^nd minute for the winning points. Johnson tacked on the two-pointer to ecstatic cheers.

The Big Green had defeated Princeton 44-5 in the semifinals, while the Bears topped Harvard 27-17 on Saturday. Princeton finished third after defeating Harvard 17-12.

Playoff ramifications ... Dartmouth, Brown, and Harvard head to the varsity championship quarterfinals this weekend, and Princeton represents the top Ivy League team for the DI fall playoffs. Should the Tigers accept the bid, the New Jersey team would take on Northeast #2 Boston College (which lost 49-3 to UCONN in Saturday’s conference final) in a play-in match this weekend, with the victor moving onto the DI fall quarterfinals.

Soggy conditions slowed down the Notre Dame College vs. Life University match in Marietta, Ga., but the Running Eagles put in an 18-5 victory to improve to 4-1. Rachel Dorminy, Kaitlyn Broughton, and Darian Lovelace scored the tries, while Whitney Wilson kicked the penalty. The game marked the end of the Falcons’ first season as a DI varsity program, while Life has one more match against the Stars to get its younger players some experience.

UC San Diego’s Scrum by the Sea tournament brought 16 DI and DII teams (19 sides total) together for another great showcase of California and Arizona collegiate rugby. UC Davis ended the day on top, bettering the host 7-5 in the championship game. The tournament win comes on the back of the Aggies’ first-ever Slugfest title. UC Davis beat Cal 33-15 in that final.

This weekend is the beginning of playoffs for the varsity championship, which will contest quarterfinal games at the higher seed's home; and DI fall playoffs, which will host a handful of play-in matches that will award berths into the following weekend's quarterfinals.