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Gold Coast contested its conference championship last weekend in Phoenix, and first-year member Grand Canyon won the league title after a 2-0 outing. UC Santa Barbara finished second and both will be heading to the DI Spring Round of 16 (April 20-22).
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Grand Canyon faced Arizona State in Saturday’s semifinal, and after 55 minutes only led the Sun Devils 26-14. But three fourth-quarter tries from Julian White helped the Lopes to a 46-14 win. Kayla Faurot (2), Daeanera Tuaua, Arisbel Gonzalez and Sarah Lawson also scored tries, while Natasha Opoku (2) and Erin Eschbach added the extras. ASU got its points from Allyson Weaver, who converted her two tries.
View Jeff Dalton’s photos: Grand Canyon vs. Arizona State
On the other side of the bracket, UC Santa Barbara took 55 minutes to score 67 points against CSU Northridge. Fullback Naomi Carrillo scored five tries, and No. 8 Amanda Schweitzer dotted down four times. Inside center Lauren Thunen accounted for 22 points on two tries and six conversions. The Gauchos cleared the bench in the fourth quarter, and Northridge took advantage, scoring seven unanswered tries for a respectable 67-52 finale.
The most entertaining match may have been Sunday’s third-place game between CSU Northridge and Arizona State. For all but two minutes, the teams remained within 10 points of each other and traded the lead a couple of times. In the end, the Sun Devils triumphed with a 44-34 victory. No. 8 Sarah Marmolejo led with three tries, and Danielle Williford, Kallie Larson, Danielle Borie, Weaver and Ashlin Caltabiano also scored.
Jeff Dalton photos / see more
The first half of the final was competitive, as Grand Canyon led UC Santa Barbara 19-12 at the 39th minute. Again, White emerged as the team’s most effective finisher, accounting the Lopes’ three first-half tries, and then adding another three scores in the second half. The back finished the weekend with 45 points. Jasmine Fifer, Gonzalez (3) and Opoku scored second-half tries in the 67-17 championship win.
This spring 2018 season is only Grand Canyon’s second year in competitive play. During the team’s 2017 debut, the Lopes finished third at the DII College Spring Championship, playing Tulane to a two-point semifinal loss before defeating UC Irvine. UC Santa Barbara has made big strides from last year as well, improving from a 2-4 regular-season record to 6-2 thus far.
USA Rugby has not yet released the brackets for the DI or DII spring championships, but Stanford University (Palo Alto, Calif.) and BYU (Provo, Utah) are the two western sites. The Gold Coast teams will join Pacific Mountain #1 Chico State and three other PMRC teams (determined April 7-8), and DI Elite teams Lindenwood and BYU in the western portion of the Spring Round of 16.