Ros Okpara scored two tries against Sacramento. / Photo: Jackie Finlan
Division II club leagues are both winding down and restarting, depending on the geographic location. Below is a recap of those competitions that have been more active thus far in 2018. Remember that the Midwest named its champion in the fall, and the Atlantic North (New England and Empire) has known its semifinalists since November.
SOUTH
CAROLINAS
Charlotte (5-0) has only surrendered five points against in league games and is the clear favorite in the north pool. The North Carolina side has been bulking up its schedule with competitive friendlies (read more). Eno River (3-1) is the likely North #2 seed to head to crossover semifinals on April 21.
The Atlanta Harlequins and Augusta are the top-two teams in the south pool and will wrap up their regular seasons against each other on Saturday. The Harlequins won the previous showdown (Nov. 4) 45-10. The Carolinas will receive two berths to the South Conference championship (May 5-6) since Southern Pines is hosting.
FLORIDA
Fort Miami (8-0) posted its share of shutouts this season and ended with a 92-0 win over Tampa Bay. Ten players scored 14 tries, and All-American Morgan Freeman accounted for five of them. Flyhalf Marie Zeoli added 11 conversions for 22 points. Fort Miami will now face Orlando (5-3) on April 21 for the DII Florida State Championship. The victor will advance to the South Conference championship in early May.
TRUE SOUTH
Knoxville (3-0) leads the league, but a rematch of the 2017 league final awaits on Saturday. Last year, Knoxville edged Nashville (2-1) 33-31 for a berth to the Southern Conference championship, where the team fell to Fort Miami in the final. Two weekends ago, Knoxville traveled to Charlotte for a competitive friendly and lost 53-17.
The league championship will occur April 21-22 in Nashville, Tenn.
RED RIVER
There’s no outright leader in this conference, and after Tulsa’s 25-15 win over Austin (5-1), every team has at least one loss. In this cross-pool match last Saturday, Tulsa took a 15-0 halftime lead on tries from loose forwards Tara Coffelt and Nicole Morgan and wing Alisha Williams. The Valkyries outscored Tulsa in the second half, as Kristi Ritchie, Jacqueline Tobar and Kayla Harris dotted down, but two more tries from Coffelt and Morgan awarded the home side the win.
Also keep an eye on Little Rock (4-1). The Arkansas side is playing all of its league matches in the spring, and its lone loss was its season opener: a 29-28 defeat to Tulsa. Last weekend, Little Rock defeated the Dallas Reds 31-12. Outside center Hannah Groom led all scorers with 11 points on a try and three conversions. Prop Andrea Carters scored two tries, and inside center Courtney Sailings and lock Kimberly Smith scored one apiece.
The Red River championship will occur May 5-6 in Austin and begin with crossover semifinals on Saturday before the placing matches on Sunday.
PACIFIC SOUTH
Old Pueblo (6-0), Pasadena (5-1) and Las Vegas (4-2) have all guaranteed their advancement to the SoCal playoffs, and the fourth semifinalist will be determined this weekend, the final round of league play. On April 21, #1 hosts #4, and #2 hosts #3, and the victors will advance to the April 28 championship at CSU Long Beach in California. (The DI club championship will be held at the higher seed’s home, so it could occur at one of three locations.)
A highlight from the second half of the season occurred between Old Pueblo and Las Vegas. Through the 60th minute, the Slots trailed the Lightning 27-26, but then the Tucson side powered through the final quarter with four tries (prop Alison Miller, No. 8 Jessica Szakacs, fullback Sydney Dudley, wing Jasmine Mascarenas) for the 53-29 win. Old Pueblo also got points through scrumhalf Kristina Aprahamian (2T), outside center Brawley McCaslin (T), lock Andrea Hite (T) and Alex Rath (5C, P). Las Vegas got its scores from prop Similiti Lula (T), outside center Catrin Turner (2T), reserve Jeruscha Ako (T) and flyhalf Danielle Schumacher (3C, P).
Pasadena 33-7 San Fernando Valley / Photo: Greg Smookler
PACIFIC NORTH
PACIFIC NORTHWEST
This Saturday is the final week of league play; however, the four semifinalists appear to be determined already. Bend (7-0), Emerald City (6-1), Eugene (5-2) and Portland (4-3) all have enough standings points to keep Budd Bay and ORSU out of range of a post-season berth, regardless of what happens this weekend.
Stay tuned for a feature on the Lady Roughriders posted later today.
The final four will meet in Seattle on April 14-15 to determine its champion, which will then head south to San Francisco on April 28 to take on NorCal’s champion for the Pacific North berth to DII nationals.
NORCAL
The regular season wrapped up with a thrilling game between San Francisco Golden Gate (6-2) and Sacramento (7-1). The Amazons thumped SFGG 49-7 in the teams’ first match, but the Bay Area side evened up with a 17-10 victory on Saturday.
Sixteen minutes in, Amazons No. 8 Meredith Conrad-Forest scored, but then back-to-back tries from outside center Ros Okpara gave SFGG a 10-5 lead into the break. Sacramento evened up with a try from inside center Ofolangi Mailangi in the 53rd minute, but in the final 10 minutes, the Amazons picked up two yellow cards, and then a third player was red-carded. SFGG used that advantage for a final converted try from Kelly Scherer.
(4.4 UPDATE) After several last-minute adjustments, #1 Sacramento will get the bye through Saturday’s semifinals, and #2 SFGG will host #3 Berkeley in a play-in to the April 14 NorCal championship (Livermore, Calif.). Initially it was communicated that the DII NorCal victor would have to then play DI Life West before naming a rep to the April 28 Pacific North championship against the Pacific Northwest champion. Considering all of the changes that have occurred, however, we’ll just have to wait and see if that game actually occurs.
MID-ATLANTIC
This competitive region played the majority of its regular season in the fall, and teams have anywhere from 1-3 games left before the playoffs. Doylestown is the only undefeated team in the league – read more – and will help kick off the spring portion of the season against the D.C. Furies this weekend, while Chesapeake and Phoenixville also take the pitch.
There’s still a lot of maneuverability in terms of the top four in the standings so we’ll keep a close eye on the competition. The final four will report to NOVA for the MAC championships on May 5-6, and the victor will advance to nationals.
FRONTIER
MID-AMERICA
The Kansas City Jazz and St. Louis Sabres are still undefeated in the six-team league, and they’ll meet this weekend in hopes of snapping each other’s winning streak. The Jazz scored 77 points against the Kansas Bison last weekend and saw wing Amanda Hull (4), fullback Callie Manning (2), reserve Julia Buescher (2) and No. 8 Chloe Weston (2) score multiple tries. Wing Ashley Stark, center Lauren Kuklensi and reserve Madylyn Becker also dotted down, while Kuklenski (4), flyhalf Abby Higgins and reserve Brenna Thiessen added conversions.
The Frontier final four will occur May 5-6.