Big 10 award winners (l-r) Cantorna, Hodges, and Asah and Ramirez /// Photos: Beatrice Trinidad •
The DI Big 10 conference ended with Penn State celebrating its fourth-straight title. Penn State is the only champion that the Big 10 knows, but that’s not to say that the DI league isn’t evolving.
This year, the eight-team field that stretches from Indiana to New Jersey was divided into East and West pools for the regular season. The teams then reconvened last weekend to contest their crossovers for the final placing matches. East #1 vs. West #1 for the championship, East #2 vs. West #2 for third place, and so on.
For the first time in the league’s four-year history, Penn State played a team other than Indiana for the title. Notre Dame had defeated Indiana, Michigan State and Purdue home and away, and entered the final 6-0. Penn State was undefeated against Rutgers, Michigan and Ohio State, and built a 53-point lead before the Irish put down the final two tries of the title match. Gianna Solomon and Amanda Berta had multi-try days for Penn State, while conference MVP Gabby Cantorna (who also added the conversions) and Jess Molnar contributed tries.
The Nittany Lions will resume their post-season in the spring and join the newly reconfigured DI spring Round of 16 (read more on the post-season shake-up). Notre Dame advances to this weekend’s DI fall quarterfinals as the Big 10 #1 seed.
Click here for the DI fall bracket.
The Big 10 third-place match between Rutgers and Michigan State served double duty as a DI fall quarterfinal play-in match, meaning the winner would take an at-large berth to the regional post-season. It was supposed to occur between the pools’ runners-up, Rutgers and Indiana, but the Redstorm withdrew itself from contention due to numbers. West #3 Michigan State stepped up.
Rutgers defeated Michigan State 61-12 and spread its 11 tries across the forwards and backs, with Shai Hodges leading the pack with four scores. Rebecca Feliciano dotted down three times, while Mara Friedman, Ashley Allen, Sian Parker and Kinga Stopka contributed five-pointers. Kelly Drone knocked over three conversions in the 49-point win. Rutgers will now play Midwest champion Minnesota in the DI fall quarterfinals.
Following the championship games, the conference held an awards banquet at a nearby hotel. After every league match, coaches voted for a back and forward MVP on the opposing team, and those votes named:
Big 10 Back of the Year: Sophie Asah, Notre Dame
Big 10 Forward of the Year: Shai Hodges, Rutgers
Big 10 Coach of the Year (as voted on by conference coaches): Ricardo Ramirez, Notre Dame
Big 10 MVP: Gabby Cantorna, Penn State
The conference-wide awards were a first for the DI league and are a mark of big plans on the horizon.
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