Photo courtesy Notre Dame Women’s Rugby
Of the six teams heading to Furman University for the DI and DII college fall championships, four are returners from the 2016 tournament. This weekend’s playoffs named the DI fall finalists and the DII fall semifinalists, all of which travel to South Carolina Dec. 2-3 in the title hunt.
RELATED: View the full DI and DII college fall brackets • DI Quarterfinals & DII Round of 16 Update • Women’s Rugby Results: Nov. 17-19
Reigning DII college national champion Davenport University, promoted this year into DI, now has the opportunity to add a DI fall title to its trophy case. The Panthers defeated Minnesota 49-5 Saturday, while reigning DI fall champion Air Force beat Texas A&M 27-12 in the quarterfinals. Today, Davenport bettered Air Force 15-5 in the semifinals.”Neither team was able to show their full potential due to the field conditions, but considering the weather our forwards again came up strong in the scrums and in rucks,” Davenport’s Danielle Ordway explained. “Air Force challenged us with their defense. They had an aggressive launch which made it hard for us to get the ball out to our back line. They quickly filled post making our pick-and-goes not as successful as usual.”
The first 20 minutes evolved without a score, but then a yellow card gave Davenport the edge it needed to send No. 8 Hunter Moreland across for the first of her two tries. Lock Amy Plambeck added a try before the half, and Davenport took a 10-0 lead into the break. Moreland scored approximately 15 minutes into the second half, and Air Force snapped the shut out with a try from Sarah Stinson in the waning minutes.
Davenport cpt Hannah Tennant off the tee / Photo: Bobby Gable
2016 fall runner-up UCONN needed overtime to defeat Navy in the quarterfinals, while Notre Dame bettered Boston University 40-17. Today, it was the Fighting Irish that needed, and got, a late push to win. Three tries from Sophie Asah, one from Grace McGurn, and three Emma Shimek conversions produced a 26-20 semifinal victory over UCONN.
Division I does not contest a national championship, so the fall final between Notre Dame and Davenport will be the teams’ last of the 15s season. (That said, USA Rugby college championships continually change.) Both have DII national championships in their pasts.
As of the 2017-18 season, Division II will not host a national championship. Winona State, Vassar College, Coast Guard and Cincinnati will compete for the fall championship, and then a spring champion will be named in the New Year.
The Black Katts shut out Sam Houston State 68-0 and then needed everything in the tank to top the Colorado School of Mines 37-26. The Rocky Mountain champ led Winona State at three different points in the match, as Alexandra Garza, Mary Wallace and Syd Slouka all scored. Winona State took a one-point lead in minute 62 before tacking on two cushion tries late in the match. Sydney Gould and Diana Tapia scored two tries apiece for the Northern Lights champion, while Emily Becker added seven points on a try and conversion.
Winona will face Cincinnati, which defeated UW Oshkosh 65-10 in the fall Round of 16 and then scored another 55 points against IUP in today’s fall quarterfinals. Wing Erin Sang, outside center Justine Perl, wing Jess Sang, hooker Hailey Tippett and No. 8 Abigail Lowman had multi-try weekends. In the recent past, Davenport has halted Cincinnati’s post-season path out of the Midwest, and now the Ohio squad brings an element of surprise to South Carolina.
Coast Guard vs. Marist / Photo: JJ Fagan
Vassar toughed out a 25-5 win over Colby Saturday before besting Upstate New York champion Buffalo State 49-12 in today’s fall quarterfinals. The Brewers moved the ball around in terms of scoring, as Sarah Mawhinney (2), Makena Emery, Elaina Peterkin, Kaitlin Prado, Oshana Reich, Jennie To and Michelle Urrutia all dotted down.
The Tri-State conference champion will face the New England Wide champion, Coast Guard, in the fall semifinals at Furman University. It will be a rematch of the 2016 third-place fall match, which Vassar won 15-10. The Bears took down SUNY Cortland 50-13 in the fall quarterfinals and then slogged out a 22-0 win over Marist.
Stay tuned for individual follow-ups. View the DI and DII fall brackets here.