College Women
This weekend, the Southern Independent Rugby Conference (SIRC) will join the West Coast and Southern California conferences in DII women’s college league play. In the past, the SIRC has suffered from forfeits and teams folding, but the conference has now doubled in size, and that should stabilize the schedule to an extent.
The season is still young for those spring-oriented conferences, but a few DI colleges showed their hand in last weekend's games. The entire Pacific Mountain Conference is contesting league games on Saturday, and the South is joining the fray as well.
The Midwest Thunderbirds are on the hunt again. The U23 all-star team is returning to the Las Vegas Invitational and looking to defend its college 7s title. Roger Riley and Steve Murra have also returned as coaches, and noted that this year's competition will produce new challenges.
The western seaboard awakens this weekend, as DI and DII women’s colleges play the first league matches of 2015. California sees the most action, but the activity will spread eastward in the coming week.
PACIFIC MOUNTAIN SOUTH - DI
Arizona vs. UC San Diego
Arizona State vs. UC Santa Barbara
The Stanford Women were almost untouchable defensively as they swept through the 2015 Stanford Women’s Collegiate Invitational this weekend, going 5-0 and shutting out all but one opponent.