For the fifth year in a row, the University of Cincinnati is the DII Ohio Valley conference champion and advances to the USA Rugby DII College Fall Championship playoffs. The regional post-season kicks off this weekend with the Fall Round of 32, and the Bearcats will host the Mid-Atlantic’s Kutztown University. A trip to Columbia, Mo., and the Fall Rounds of 16/8 are at stake.
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“Our depth and experience is apples to apples compared to last year,” Cincinnati head coach Craig Russell reviewed the squad. “[W]e lost a few of our senior members but we gained the same amount of rookies, but a lot had previous playing experience.
“Our new, older members have stepped up a lot this fall, such as our main captain and flyhalf, Madeline Conklin. She is only a junior, but her rugby potential is huge and this will be her third go-around at [fall championships],” coach continued. “Her co-captain and eightman, Hailey Tippett, is our most senior member of the team. She joined the team in fall of 2015 when we went to Round of 8 against Davenport for the first time, so she has been around the [fall championship] block a few times, or five.”
Cincinnati assistant coach Kayla Closson, who also serves as conference commissioner, pointed to veterans like Alaina Tarr, Alyssa Powell, Paige Roller and Jess Sang for being big contributors to the team’s success. Their leadership was also crucial as Cincinnati weathered another league season littered with forfeits and cancellations.
“Unfortunately, yes, our league is struggling with numbers from the lack of some of the schools’ support,” Closson explained. “Every team was frustrated and some teams wanted to play so badly that we would play with sharing players.”
“However, it allowed us to try new things throughout the season to up our level of play without it being detrimental to our rankings,” Russell noted the up-side.
That freedom allowed the newer players to express themselves without pressure, and Russell pointed to rising stars like Rose Beisel-Linn and Kiley Lovejoy, who will benefit greatly from the next level of competition.
Cincinnati moved through the regular season with another undefeated record and won the title with a 32-12 final win over Miami of Ohio, which is also heading to regional playoffs for a second year.
“Miami has come a long way from last year and it was great for both teams to go out there and stretch their legs,” Closson reflected on the conference championship. “As the commissioner, I am hopeful that both teams with have a great run during playoffs.”
Cincinnati has been competing at the regional level since 2015, and those first two years were spent running into a Davenport brick wall. The Bearcats made their first appearance at the fall final four in 2017 – when the Panthers were promoted into DI – and returned in 2018. Both years, Cincinnati finished fourth.
“Our team is grateful and excited to make it this far into [the fall championships] so far but as we know with college rugby, everything changes on four-year cycles,” Russell anticipated the unknowns ahead.
“I don’t think any team is where a coach wants it to be, but we continue to work on strategies and fitness while still enjoying the game,” coach commented on playoff readiness. “We are eager to play Kutzown. We feel it will be a great matchup for us.”
Kutztown took an at-large berth to the fall championship after a “clerical error” (per the team’s Facebook announcement) ruled its 20-0 semifinal win over Temple a forfeit during the MARC playoffs. Evidently that error was corrected for the third-place match the following day, and the Bears beat Delaware for the opportunity to continue into regionals.