Stony Brook beat Marist 48-40 in Tri-State quarterfinals. / Photo: Jenifer Holden
A good amount of college conferences are in their post-seasons, and with one exception (Capital), they’re building toward the USA Rugby DI and DII College Fall Championships on Dec. 1-2, in Charlotte, N.C.
[Remember: The fall championships are the counterpart to the spring championships, as there are no national championships for USA Rugby’s DI and DII women’s colleges.]
The following is a review of the conference playoffs games this weekend. Once leagues name their reps, the fall championships continue as such:
Nov. 10: DII play-ins, aka Round of 32
Nov. 17-18: DI quarterfinals & semifinals; DII Round of 16 & quarterfinals
Dec. 1-2: DI fall championship, DII fall semifinals & final
ALLEGHENY (DII)
Slippery Rock forfeited its playoff berth, so #3 West Virginia will travel to #2 Youngstown State this weekend for the championship play-in match, and then the winner will travel to #1 Indiana University of Pennsylvania for the Nov. 3 final.
CAPITAL (DII)
This conference holds its league playoffs in the fall and then sends its representatives to the spring regional playoffs. This weekend is the quarterfinal round with the higher seed hosting:
Maryland @ William & Mary
Towson @ George Washington
Old Dominion @ Salisbury
George Mason @ Mary Washington
The semifinals and final are held Nov. 3-4.
GREAT WATERS (DII)
The three-pool conference (alongside the NSCRO final four) will contest its quarterfinals and semifinals this weekend in Oshkosh, Wisc. The championship and third-place games will be held Nov. 3 in Cottage Grove.
Saturday Quarterfinals
#1 UW Eau Claire vs. UW Stevens Point
#2 UW La Crosse vs. UI Chicago
#3 Marquette vs. Northwestern
#4 De Paul vs. UW Oshkosh
Sunday Semifinals
Winner #1 vs. Winner #2
Winner #3 vs. Winner #4
ILLINOIS (DII)
If the original schedule stands, then undefeated #1 Illinois State will play #4 Southern Illinois, and #2 Western Illinois will face #3 Illinois Saturday. The finals will be held Sunday.
IVY LEAGUE X 2
Dartmouth hosts the varsity and club Ivy League championships this weekend. The Big Green will play Harvard for the title, while the club teams will start with semifinals. The match-ups haven’t been published, but undefeated Princeton is #1, and if the current standings hold, then the Tigers will play #4 Penn Saturday. Columbia and Yale would square up on the other side of the bracket.
MIDWEST (DI)
The standings solidified after Minnesota beat Iowa State 41-12, and Wisconsin defeated Iowa 31-22 last weekend. This Saturday the conference will now hold three placing matches, with the higher seed hosting:
Championship: Iowa State @ Minnesota
3rd: Wisconsin @ Northern Iowa
5th: Northern Illinois @ Iowa
NEW ENGLAND WIDE (DII)
The conference held its semifinals last weekend, and saw Coast Guard take the forfeit win over New Hampshire, and Maine best Vermont 80-10. This Saturday the Bears will host the championship against Maine, while UNH should travel to Vermont for third.
NORTHERN LIGHTS (DII)
The final four weekend will occur in Otsego, Minn., and Saturday will feature:
#1 Winona State vs. #4 Mankato
#2 UM Duluth vs. #3 North Dakota
Championship and 3rd place will be held Sunday.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN (DI)
The two pools come together at Northern Colorado’s campus and will contest crossover semifinals Saturday and the placing games Sunday:
Air Force vs. Montana State
Utah State vs. Colorado
Colorado Mesa will represent DII after two wins over Colorado School of Mines.
TEXAS (DI)
Eight teams are heading to Texas A&M for the conference championships. The top-two teams in the North and South pools are playing toward the championship, and the remainder are playing for fifth. Oklahoma University finished third in the North but declined its bid due to numbers.
Saturday
Championship Semifinals
Angelo State (North #1) – Sam Houston (South #2)
North Texas (North #2) – Texas A&M (South #1)
5th Place Semifinals
Texas Tech (North #4) – Texas State (South #4)
Texas (South #5) – UT San Antonio (South #3)
Sunday – Championship and placing matches
TRI-STATE (DII)
This weekend’s semifinals is the conference’s third round of playoffs, which began with quarterfinal play-ins and then last weekend’s quarterfinals. Two South teams upset their North opponents: South #2 beat North #2 Marist 48-40, and South #1 Fairfield beat North #3 Rensselaer to set up the semifinals:
SUNY New Paltz @ Vassar College
Stony Brook University @ Fairfield University
UPSTATE NEW YORK (DII)
Last weekend the league separated out its NSCRO teams competing in the hybrid competition and held its DII crossover quarterfinals:
Buffalo State 93-10 Ithaca
RIT forfeit to Syracuse
Cortland 78-7 Brockport
The fourth quarterfinal between Fredonia and Binghamton is still under review, as the match was called after 43 minutes due to lightning, and the teams were separated by only three points. At the time of print, the conference was trying to schedule the second half this week.
This weekend’s semifinals:
Syracuse @ Buffalo State
Fredonia/Binghamton @ Cortland
Finals held Nov. 3 along with NSCRO