Host and MARC 7s champion Kutztown /// Photo courtesy Kutztown Women’s Rugby
The American Collegiate Rugby Association (ACRA) will conduct its annual sevens championship at Kutztown University (Pa.) this Saturday, April 29. The 12 teams reporting to Luckenbill Road Rugby Field were chosen from automatic tournament qualifiers and applications from teams with good 7s records.
RELATED: ACRA 7s Championship schedule • Team Rosters • Tournament Info
Reigning champion Winona State University (Minn.) is not making the trip out east this year, making Davenport University (Mich.) and Eastern Kentucky the lone Midwest representatives heading to Pennsylvania.
“The championships have a decidedly east coast feel because the middle of the country has yet to embrace the 7s game in a big way and have yet to offer many 7s qualifying tournaments,” explained Winona’s Roger Riley. “With tournaments such as that in Wisconsin slowly coming online, it is expected to see the 12-team championships peppered with teams from the middle of the country in subsequent years.”
Davenport didn’t attend the 7s tournament last year, as the Panthers were busy fundraising and training for the DII national 15s championship, which they ended up winning. Davenport followed that performance with a USA Rugby DII national 7s championship and is heading to Marietta, Ga., on May 6 to defend its 15s title against spring champion Kennesaw State.
Eastern Kentucky finished runner-up to DI Bowling Green at the Cincy 7s and earned a berth to the tournament.
Bloomsburg (Pa.) will look to build on finals’ appearances at last year’s ACRA and USA Rugby DII championships, but the team is now without USA 7s Eagle Nikki Snyder. Host Kutztown (Pa.) defeated Bloomsburg in the MARC 7s championship and will also participate in the USA Sevens CRC with Bloomsburg and Drexel University (Pa.). East Stroudsburg rounds out the Pennsylvania representatives.
Boston University is the lone Division I team competing and has had a nice build-up this spring. The team has played in four tournaments and won two – St. PatRuck’s in Albany and Yale 7s – and has been building depth through an active B side.
Stonehill College (Mass.) is the Rugby Northeast champion and took the title over 15s champion St. Michael’s College in the final. Stony Brook University (N.Y.) finished runner-up to Vassar at the Tri-State 7s championship, but the Brewers withdrew from the competition after sustaining too many injuries in last weekend’s Beast of the East (which Vassar won over UCONN).
Middlebury College (Vt.) won the Purple Valley 7s and drew at the Polar Bear 7s last weekend. The latter provided some tougher competition (Army, Norwich), and also saw positive results, like wins over NIRA members Bowdoin and New England. Middlebury is joined by New England representatives University of Maine, which is coming off a DIII Beast of the East title, and University of New Hampshire.
For more information, visit www.acra-rugby.com.