College Women
The Mid-Atlantic Rugby Conference took a bit of a makeover for the upcoming season, but one thing hasn’t changed: Kutztown is the DII women’s college with the target on its back. The Pennsylvania side was pleased to advance to ACRA’s final four year last, but now that the team has diversified its experience and returned some important players, Kutztown is thinking bigger.
The women’s DII college landscape is a fickle one. Every year a new set of teams advances to the national playoffs, and it’s rare to have a DII program with sustained success - and maybe that's because success begets pressure to promote itself to DI. Winona State might be on that path, as the current DII ACRA champion prepares for another title run.
On July 1, the women’s team at Life University officially became a varsity program. Big changes lie ahead, not least among them the opportunity to offer more athletic scholarships, but coach Rosalind Chou isn’t rushing the growth of the young program.
Chou is fortunate to have Director of Rugby Dan Payne lending guidance.