Eckerd gets a bump in the rankings. /// Photo: Nicole Velez
Even though the action in Las Vegas dominated headlines last weekend, there were some important games that occurred in the DII women’s college sphere.
RELATED: DII College Spring Ranking #1 • Women’s Rugby Results: March 3-5 • Canterbury HS Player of February
The South Independent Rugby Conference (SIRC) held its crossover quarterfinals, but two of those matches were cancelled in advance as forfeits. Tulane took the uncontested win against Middle Tennessee State, while Clemson accepted a forfeit win from UT Knoxville. Forfeits are always unfortunate, but when they occur in conferences like SIRC – where 15 teams are spread across four pools – game time in higher-pressure scenarios are incredibly valuable.
Of the two SIRC quarterfinals that did come off, Alabama defeated UT Chattanooga 34-19, and Kennesaw State held off Georgia 29-15. Clemson posted a similar scoreline against UGA earlier in the season and necessitated a closer rank to Kennesaw State. With that said, it’s the March 18-19 semifinals that will appropriately translate the decisions coming out of the SIRC.
Eckerd got a big bump after thoroughly proving it is the strongest and most consistent team in Florida. It’s added in some higher-level games in the spring and sends players to select side play. The space opened up after Santa Clara forfeited its final league game against Fresno State. Santa Clara hasn’t let its low roster numbers affect its performance – until now. The two teams had already booked their berths to the West Coast championship when Santa Clara forfeited, but in case it hasn’t come through yet: We have little tolerance for forfeits, as far as the rankings are concerned.
Fresno State and Santa Clara will contest the West Coast championship this Saturday at Cal Maritime Academy, and we’ll be on site to cover the title match. One hopes both programs are able to put their best teams on the pitch.
The highlight of the Gold Coast conference occurred between standings leaders UC Irvine and Claremont, with the former winning 20-8. While the result reinforced the teams’ rankings relative to each other, 4-0 University of South Carolina got the boost after a massive win over College of Charleston.
Also in the Carolinas, UNC Wilmington joined the rankings after playing UNC Charlotte to within 10 points. It was a high-scoring affair that made for an entertaining match; however, allowing 43 points begs questions of UNC Charlotte’s defense and saw a one-spot drop in the rankings.
Finally, Western Washington reinforced its domination in the Cascades, improving to 6-0 after an 85-10 win over Western Oregon and 65-0 shutout against Eastern Washington. And Kansas State picked up two Mid-America wins after Arkansas and Nebraska both forfeited.
