CRAA 15s Finals Ready for Kickoff

This Saturday, April 19, the College Rugby Association of America (CRAA) will name its three women’s 15s champions in Division IA, Division I and Division II. The three matches occur at Stanford University’s Steuber Rugby Stadium in Palo Alto and will be live-streamed on CRAA’s YouTube channel. First kickoff is 2 p.m. PDT.

The first game of the day (2 p.m.) is the DII championship between 2024 titleholder Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly SLO) and challenger Univ. California Irvine (UCI). The Mustangs went undefeated through the West Coast Women’s Rugby Conference, a competition that stretches Cal Poly SLO in the south to Univ. Nevada Reno and Cal Poly Humboldt in the west and north, respectively. The Mustangs bulked up their 15s schedule with competitive friendlies, most notably two games against CRAA championship host Stanford. The West Coast conference held its championship on March 29 in San Jose, and Cal Poly SLO triumphed 62-20 against Santa Clara University in the final.

Cal Poly SLO is balanced, skilled and confident, putting up a truly fun style of rugby onto the pitch. Read more from head coach Zach Markow.

UCI is the repeat Pacific Desert Rugby Conference champion and tops a league that covers Southern California and Univ. Nevada Las Vegas. The team went undefeated as well but is feeling a bit undercooked for the final. Several regular-season games were fewer-than-15s matches or were never played (CSU Long Beach) and the Anteaters were deprived of some valuable runouts. To boot, the DII post-season removed the semifinal round, marking another opportunity to build naturally to a title match. Nonetheless, Irvine is more veteran and experienced than the squad that played Cal Poly SLO in the 2024 playoffs, and there is a “focused aggression,” per head coach Anita Bradbury, driving the team into Saturday. Read more on the Anteaters.

The DIA championship follows at 4 p.m. PDT and it’s already a classic: Life University vs. Lindenwood University. This showdown has featured in the previous six DIA (or DI Elite) finals, but 2025 marks the last time these two teams will contest the DIA trophy. Lindenwood will align with NIRA for the fall 2025 season, so the teams will compete in different 15s competitions. (Aside: Will DIA exist next year with Lindenwood in NIRA and Central Washington announcing the end of its varsity rugby programs?)

Saturday has a great setup. Life won its first-ever DIA championship 44-41 last year and it wants to prove that that title run was not a fluke. Conversely, Lindenwood wants that trophy back and carries an unfinished-business vibe. Their regular-season games in March have built the anticipation as well. Both teams won on the road — Life beat Lindenwood in St. Charles 29-24, and then the Lions traveled to Marietta for a 27-24 victory. Prepare for a cracker of a rubber match Saturday. Read more from Life head coach Ryszard Chadwick and Lindenwood head coach Trevor Locke.

Stanford vs. Cal carry that rivalry traditional into the final event of the day, the DI championship at 7 p.m. PDT. Both hail from the Pacific Mountain Rugby Conference, which encompasses NorCal and the Pacific Northwest. During the regular season, they were each other’s best competition by far. In the postseason, Stanford beat Western Washington (twice) and Univ. Arizona convincingly, and generally just looking synced. Team captain Leila Wang Gaouette attributed the uptick in performance to the experience of last year’s title run. Everyone knows what it takes to win a title, and they want to do it again. Read more.

Cal’s going to make that pursuit difficult. The Bears are making their first-ever appearance in a 15s championship and the Berkeley side has fought its way there. There were several behind-the-scene challenges coloring the team’s 4-1 regular season, but the triumphs produced a squad with “humble swagger,” per captain May Lauritzen. That confidence and grit were on display during regionals — a 17-8 quarterfinal win against Grand Canyon University and 39-10 semifinal win against Claremont College. Read more from head coach Katie Chou, who is just enjoying where the team is right now.

And then that will be it for the college 15s season. But five of these six teams will also feature in CRAA’s 7s championships on May 3-4 in Indianapolis. Last year, the 7s and 15s finales were held on the same weekend in the same location, but now programs that are interested in both 7s and 15s postseasons can theoretically place their top teams in both events rather than choose between them.