Coast Guard clinched a playoff berth. /// Photo courtesy USCG Academy Women’s Rugby •
The DII college fall Round of 32 is one week away from allotting all of its automatic berths. There are several at-large bids to be won as well. Below is a summary of teams that won their way into the Nov. 12 playoffs, as well as what’s at stake this weekend:
• Great Waters … Sunday, Nov. 6 championship final: UW La Crosse vs. Marquette. 3rd place: UW Steven’s Point vs. Univ. Illinois-Chicago.
La Crosse and Steven’s Point both finished 5-1 in the north pool, but head-to-head is the tiebreaker (La Crosse beat Steven’s Point 69-5 during league). Marquette finished 6-0 in the south, defeating UIC (4-2) 22-10 last weekend. Keep in mind that the conference runner-up isn’t guaranteed the second seed to the Round of 32. As explained last week, an independent panel will evaluate the games and determine which team is second-strongest.
• Illinois … Illinois State won the hybrid division’s DII seed with a 48-7 win over Western Illinois. The conference has three DII teams and is allotted two seeds to Round of 32.
• Ohio Valley … Championship final: Cincinnati vs. Eastern Kentucky. 3rd place: Kentucky vs. Ball State. Cincinnati defeated Ball State 88-0 in the semifinals, while Eastern Kentucky topped Kentucky 77-12.
• MARC … Nov. 5 semifinals: Kutztown vs. York College, and Bloomsburg vs. St. Joseph’s. Nov. 6 finals (conference receives 3 seeds).
Kutztown and Bloomsburg finished the seasons undefeated, with the Golden Bears beating Drexel (3-3) 43-10 Saturday and Bloomsburg winning 77-20 over York (5-1). St. Joseph (4-2) lost 33-5 to The College of New Jersey but had the standings points to advance to the semifinals.
• New England Small College … Standings leaders University of Maine at Orono and Colby will play for the conference title on Nov. 5. The third- and fourth-place teams in the standings – Tufts and Middlebury – will play for the “plate.”
• New England Wide … Coast Guard (7-0, 34 pts.) has won the conference on standings, even with another league game remaining. UVM (6-1, 27 pts.) and New Hampshire (5-2, 25 pts.) have one more league game to take the second conference seed.
New Haven (4-2, 19 pts.) could have been in the mix, but its postponed game against Hartford isn’t being played until Nov. 12, thereby taking the team out of contention.
• Rocky Mountain … Montana State repeated as conference champion after a 65-22 semifinal win over Colorado Mines and 48-14 win over Utah State in the final. Utah State defeated Colorado Mesa 38-7 to advance to the final. Both finalists will feature in the Round of 32.
• Rugby Northeast … St. Michael’s and Roger Williams kept their undefeated league records (4-0) intact, as the former defeated Stonehill 62-7, and the latter bettered St. Anselm 81-21 Saturday. Playoff reps are decided on standings, and the two will play for place this weekend in their final league game against each other.
• Tri-State … Championship final: Vassar vs. Albany. 3rd place: Siena vs. RPI. Vassar defeated Siena 92-0 in the semifinals, while Albany topped RPI 48-0 Sunday.
• Upstate … Nov. 5 semifinals: #2 Geneseo vs. #3 Buffalo, and #1 Buffalo State vs. #4 Ithaca. Nov 6. finals. The semifinal matches are replays of last weekend’s games. Geneseo topped Buffalo 35-22, while Buffalo State beat Ithaca 56-10.
— The following teams have already qualified for the DII Round of 32:
Allegheny: West Virginia
Great Lakes: Davenport, Grand Valley State
Northern Lights: Winona, St. Cloud State