Army & Lindenwood shut out their respective pool play opponents. / Photo: Army W. Rugby Twitter
Day one of the CRC 7s has concluded for the women’s teams, and the top-ranked teams all won their pools. Saturday will see the 16 teams compete in the Cup and Challenge quarterfinals, and then the final two rounds of knockouts will occur Sunday. All of the Cup matches – quarterfinals, semifinals and final – will be contested inside Talen Energy Stadium in Chester, Pa.
RELATED: Women’s CRC 7s: Full results
Defending champion Lindenwood University shut out Pool A, defeating Virginia Tech, Queens University of Charlotte and St. Joe’s by a combined 149-0. The Army West Point defense was also perfect in Pool D, shutting out the NSCRO Selects, Northeastern and Kutztown 110-0. Penn State ended up taking the number one seed into the Saturday quarterfinals, outscoring Pool B’s Navy, Drexel and Bloomsburg by 170 points. And Life University won Pool C by 132 points over Notre Dame, Delaware and Temple.
All of the second-place teams – Virginia Tech, Navy, Notre Dame, NSCRO Selects – went 2-1 on the day so they advanced without any standings drama to the quarterfinals. However, the competition reseeds the teams based on standings points and then point differential, as opposed to the traditional A#1 vs. D#2, B#1 vs. C#2, etc., format. That means two things: (1) There’s incentive to run up the scores during pool play; and (2) pool play match-ups may be replicated in the quarterfinal round, which is the case for Lindenwood and Virginia Tech.
The Cup and Challenge quarterfinals were formed from the following reseeding:
1. Penn State (9 pts., 170 PD)
2. Lindenwood (9 pts., 149 PD)
3. Life (9 pts., 132 PD)
4. Army (9 pts., 110 PD)
5. Navy (7 pts., 59 PD)
6. NSCRO Selects (7 pts., 33 PD)
7. Virginia Tech (7 pts., 17 PD)
8. Notre Dame (7 pts., 13 PD)
9. Northeastern (5 pts., -29 PD)
10. Delaware (5 pts., -31 PD)
11. Queens (5 pts., -38 PD)
12. Drexel (5 pts., -101PD)
13. Temple (3 pts., -114 PD, 17 PF)
14. Kutztown (3 pts., -114 PD, 5 PF)
15. St. Joe’s (3 pts., -128 PD, 5 PF)
16. Bloomsburg (3 pts., -128 PD, 0 PF)
CUP QUARTERFINALS
#1 Penn State vs. #8 Notre Dame
#4 Army vs. #5 Navy
#2 Lindenwood vs. #7 Virginia Tech
#3 Life vs. #6 NSCRO Selects
CHALLENGE QUARTERFINALS
#9 Northeastern vs. #16 Bloomsburg
#12 Drexel vs. #13 Temple
#10 Delaware vs. #15 St. Joe’s
#11 Queens vs. #14 Kutztown