Air Force left the snow-covered pitch in Colorado Springs for a win vs. Texas A&M in Cincinnati. •
There’s a bunch of familiarity in the DI college fall semifinals Sundays. The West pool in Cincinnati pits Minnesota and Air Force against each other, while the East pool sees the Northeast’s Boston College and UConn vie for the final’s berth.
In today’s quarterfinals, Air Force lined up against Texas A&M and put down three tries from inside center Tatiana Wynder, flyhalf Noelle Heiser and wing Kaylee Eskeli in the first 15 minutes. The teams then traded scores in the second quarter, as Texas A&M lock Hailey Rebar and inside center T’yara Blades dotted down (flyhalf Rebecca Huizar converted both), and Air Force scrumhalf Kelsie O’Brien tacked on two five-pointers to make it 25-14 at the break.
Third-quarter tries from Air Force flanker Rhea McFarland, Heiser and O’Brien (and a Jacqueline Hamby conversion) pushed it out to 42-14, and that’s when A&M started taking injuries to important players like scrumhalf Julia Urdiales, Huizar and fullback Madison Buchanan. The Zoomies continued to push and saw wing Sarah Stinson, Hamby (also had two more conversions), McFarland and O’Brien score for the 66-14 final.
The Minnesota vs. Rutgers quarterfinal was also close at half, as the Gophers led 17-12 on scores from outside center Brittany White, wing Senali Dias Abeyunawardena and scrumhalf Averie Mitchell-Brown and a Danica Mooney-Jones conversion. Rutgers put prop Stephanie Teixerira and Taylor Liamero into the try zone, while scrumhalf Kelly Dronne added a conversion.
Dias Abeyunawardena and Sian Parker traded scores for their respective sides, but Minnesota responded with back-to-back tries from No. 8 Stephanie Morande and outside center Brittany White to lead 36-17 into the fourth quarter. Rutgers put down two tries in the final 10 minutes, but Minnesota had the last word in the 43-27 win.
Air Force and Minnesota played each other in the 2015 fall quarterfinals, a game that the eventual fall runner-up won 31-17. Sunday’s victor will play the winner of Boston College vs. UConn the weekend of Dec. 3-4.
The East pool featured the game of the day, as reigning DI fall champion UConn defeated Notre Dame 25-19. The Huskies will now replay the Northeast Championship against Boston College, which defeated Northern Iowa 79-26 in its quarterfinal today.
The Huskies led 10-5 at the half, and Sara Rothery increased the lead to 13-5 with a penalty before the Irish scored to come within one point. In the fourth quarter, back-to-back tries from Christa Amoia and Leah Morasutti (and an Amoia conversion) gave UConn a 25-12 lead, and despite a final try from Notre Dame, the game belonged to UConn.
Boston College built a 24-point lead in the first 20 minutes, and Northern Iowa never really recovered. No. 8 Jade McGrath led all try-scrorers with four, while Monica Thorne and Jenna Moscarelli had multi-try days. Tara Ramirez, Emmy Boone, Sarah Strohecker and Zoe Bosenberg added tries, while Laura Krivicich, Ramirez and Bosenberg handled conversions. UNI inside center Angie McCardle accounted for 16 of the Panthers’ 26 points on two tries and three conversions. Emma Frey and Eileen Lieb also scored.
UConn and Boston College are 1-1 against each other this fall, and Sunday’s rubber match will determine the East’s representative at the DI fall championship final.