GRR: UC Riverside
It has been a rocky journey getting this far for some teams in the Collegiate Women's DII Round of 16, but after this weekend, four teams will be one step closer to facing Davenport in the May 7th DII National Championship.
Notre Dame College ran away with the Women’s DII College National Championship, defeating UC Riverside 69-10 at Kennesaw State, Ga. It is the Falcons’ first USA Rugby 15s title, and it comes as the varsity team prepares for the leap to DI next season.
Kennesaw State is dense with nervous energy, as four college national championships prepare to play out tomorrow. For women’s DII finalist UC Riverside, it’s an experience that almost never happened. The Southern California team fundraised for trips to Albuquerque and Pittsburgh, but cashed in every favor to afford the trip to the spring championship.
CSU Northridge took a tough road to the DII spring championship. During the Round of 16, the SoCal champ needed overtime to beat UN Reno, and then slugged it out with Humboldt for a four-point win the following day. This weekend in Pittsburgh, Northridge defeated Florida International 27-5 in the semifinals, and then squared up against familiar opponent UC Riverside in today’s final.
Southern California is the big winner in tomorrow’s women’s DII college spring championship, as CSU Northridge and UC Riverside advance to the title bout. The victor will compete against Notre Dame College on May 9 at Kennesaw State (Ga.) for the national championship.