Minnesota-Duluth dominated about as much as you could in the Men’s DII College playoffs this past weekend, overcoming a snowy field and two extremely difficult opponents to make the national semis.

Duluth in blue and black; GVSU in blue and white, Lindenwood-Belleville in red and gray. photos. Henry Elholm photos. Click on image to enlarge.

The defending champion Fighting Penguins did it in fine style, holding Grand Valley State and Lindenwood-Belleville to one penalty goal each, while scoring 70 points on a snow-covered pitch in Des Moines, Iowa. It was everything Duluth wanted.

“We are extremely pleased with the performance,” said UMD Coach Jeramy Katchuba. “We achieved our objective of getting back to the final four. We are trying to establish a program that can compete for a national championship year-in and year-out.”

Well they did that, and they did it on the backs of a group of forwards who needed to set the platform in difficult conditions. With good, solid, go-forward ball, the backs were able to get the points.

As GVSU Coach John Mullett said, Duluth outplayed their opponents n every aspect.

Flanker Tony Wilson was brilliant on the weekend, covering the field despite the slush, while loosehead prop Billy Tapio had one of his best outings.

“We discussed him getting more involved on defense for responsibilities on the weekend, and he raised his level of play,” enthused Katchuba. “The set pieces are really starting to take shape. We have really improved our scrum over the past couple of weeks and it set the tone for the entire game yesterday.  It allows our backs to have better ball and get the defense on the back foot.”  

The center combination of Austin Haecherl and Logan Hanson was dominant on both offense and defense all weekend. They were rarely tackled behind the gainline and were very aggressive on defense.”

So now on to a semifinal against Salisbury, a team Duluth knows well. In 2013, USA Rugby shifted the DII final from the spring to the fall, and so there were two championships in the calendar year, one in May for the 2012-13 season, and one in December for the 2013 fall season. The Penguins and Sharks met in both of those finals, with Salisbury winning the first, and Duluth the second. Duluth then repeated, beating UW-Whitewater last season.

But the rivalry between UMD and Salisbury remains strong. Both have won the national championship twice, although Salisbury has been in the mix for longer - this will be the Sharks’ 8th appearance in the final four since 1998. 

“They set the standard in DII rugby for where you want to be with your program,” said Katchuba. “They consistently compete for a national championship, have a passionate fan base and play a style of rugby that is fun to watch. We are excited to have the opportunity to play them again.”

Spare a thought for:

Colorado School of Mines. A fit, open-running team, they were bogged down in the snow on Saturday and lost by a point to Lindenwood-Belleville. That’s not to say they would have won on a dry track, but they would have liked their chances. Still, it was an excellent season for the Orediggers.

Lindenwood-Belleville. A brand new program that fielded a team with a coach brand new to top-level college coaching, a new assistant coach who was just worrying about playing a few months ago, and a mostly freshman lineup. And yet, with all of the growing pains and startup issues, the Lynx won 11 games and lost four - an open subs game against Arkansas State, a game against Lindenwood St. Charles (albeit not their front-line side), and national semifinalists Wisconsin-Whitewater and Minnesota-Duluth. They showed an impressive ability to close out tough games despite their youth, beating Northern Iowa 35-33 in a critical league game, Western Michigan 40-11 in the WIIL playoffs, Gateway champ UMS&T 15-3 in the play-in, and then Rocky Mountain conference champions Mines 11-10.

Grand Valley State. It was a solid year for GVSU, as they stormed through the Great Lakes North season and then beat Xavier in the conference final before eliminating Northern Iowa in the play-in 23-17. The Lakers toughed it out when they needed to, and while the snow was a factor, it’s worth noting that the 24 points they gave up to Duluth was by far the fewest points given up against the defending champions.