Not a ton of movement in week four of the College Rugby Association of America (CRAA) Division I rankings, but Division II has seen some reshuffling. Also, keep in mind that the teams’ records reflect league games only. The only caveat is Navy, which is an independent team, and thus all games are counted toward the Midshipmen’s record.
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DIVISION I RUGBY
The U.S. Naval Academy retains the top post in DI after a 25-5 win against Univ. New Haven, a D2 NCAA varsity team in NIRA. The Annapolis team will get a massive push next weekend when DI Elite Central Washington heads east for a two-game tour. Navy hosts the Wildcats on Saturday, Oct. 8.
Northeastern University used the Rugby Northeast’s league-wide bye weekend for a friendly against Univ. New England, an NCAA D3 program in Maine. Head coach Keith Cattanach worked the depth, starting a mostly “2nd A side” in the forwards and five rookies on the bench. The Nor’easters prevailed in a 12-7 nail-biter, and Cattanach was thankful for the much-needed push. So, yes, it’s a loss, but to a varsity program that is a routine finalist in the NIRA D3 National Championship. No movement.
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As mentioned, the Rugby Northeast was otherwise idle last weekend. UCONN will restart against Rhode Island on Friday, while UMASS, which has been added to the rankings, won’t reactivate until Oct. 16 when it sees Northeastern. This eighth spot has seen teams rotate in and out, and the UMASS vs. BU game (Oct. 22) will be useful for more perspective. UMASS and UCONN have both beat Boston College – 57-0 and 83-0, respectively – and Boston Univ. lost 59-15 to UCONN.
In the Rocky Mountain, Utah State defeated Utah Valley Univ., which is competing in a provisional division, 50-5, and will see Air Force on Oct. 9.
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The game of the weekend occurred between Air Force and Colorado State – a makeup from an early-September match that was instead played as an open scrimmage. The teams were already ranked beside each other and the Sunday result supported the order: 26-17 to Air Force. Colorado State faced Colorado this Sunday.
The Buffaloes tied the unranked Montana State 33-33 on the road last weekend. If there were more teams in the ranking (there are two conferences plus independent Navy in DI CRAA), then maybe CU would slide a spot, but UMASS is new to the list and with only one game to its credit so far. So everyone stayed put.
CRAA DI FALL 15s RANKING #4 |
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| Rank | Prev Rank | Team | Record | Results |
| 1 | 1 | Navy | 3-1 | 25-5 W v New Haven (NIRA D2). Upcoming: 10.8 Central Washington (DI Elite) |
| 2 | 2 | Northeastern Univ. | 1-0 | 12-7 L vs. Univ. New England (NIRA D3). Upcoming: 10.9 Boston University |
| 3 | 3 | Utah State | 3-0 | 50-5 W v Utah Valley. Upcoming: 10.9 Air Force |
| 4 | 4 | UCONN | 2-0 | Idle. Upcoming: 10.7 Rhode Island |
| 5 | 5 | Air Force | 2-0 | 26-17 W v Colorado State. Upcoming: 10.9 Utah State |
| 6 | 6 | Colorado State | 1-1 | 26-17 L v Air Force. Upcoming: 10.9 Colorado |
| 7 | 7 | Colorado | 1-1-1 | 33-33 Draw v Montana State. Upcoming: 10.9 Colorado State |
| 8 | unr | UMASS | 1-0 | Idle. Upcoming: 10.16 Northeastern |
DIVISION II RUGBY
Two games pits conference leaders against each other last weekend, and the outcomes moved the rankings around. In New England Wide, reigning conference champion Vermont beat Coast Guard 18-10, so the teams swapped order. They’ll see each other again on Oct. 15 and are the favorites for the Nov. 5 conference championship match.
Meanwhile, Rocky Mountain leader Colorado School of Mines traveled to Colorado Mesa University and put 35 points between itself and the Mavericks. The show force saw the Orediggers move into the No. 2 spot on the rankings. Not to be overlooked, scoring 29 points is no small achievement, after a couple of bye weeks, we expect to see CMU fired up.
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Tri-State, Rugby Northeast and Mid-Atlantic (MARC) fill the rest of the ranking. Vassar improved to 2-0 in Tri-State after a 95-0 win against Albany. Caeli Porette (5), Claire Zickl (3), Andie Authers (2), Sophia Bailey (2), Zoe Lynch (2), Lauren Showalter, Asia Baker and Isabel Rodriguez scored the tries, while Lynch added four conversions and Zickl added a fifth. The Brewers face RPI this Saturday. The Poughkeepsie program’s most interesting weekend comes at the end of the month, when Vassar plays NIRA D3 national champion Bowdoin on Saturday and then contests its Tri-State conference on Sunday. The Brewers have that kind of depth.
Also in Tri-State, Columbia University was added to the ranking at No. 10. The team had to forfeit its opening game against Vassar due to an administrative error that kept the team off the pitch entirely. But on Saturday, Columbia beat the previously ranked Fairfield University 43-10.
Rugby Northeast’s UMass Lowell was idle this week and has a big game against Providence College this Saturday. We were reluctant to place the Friars on the ranking because of roster numbers, but the Rhode Island team keeps winning, now 3-0. Saturday pits two undefeated teams against each other for some more welcomed insight into the league.
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And in the Mid-Atlantic, Kutztown advanced up the ranking after a 41-0 win against St. Joseph University. Gabbie Quigg, Sam Abbonizio, Jenna Wilson, Sara Canepa and Mckenna Cavenas scored tries. The Bears have a bye this week and then retake the pitch Oct. 15 for a friendly against Salisbury.
Bloomsburg University moved up with a 24-12 win against College of New Jersey. Laurel Lokhaiser, Emily Caridi, Madi Dugan and Jenna Bevan scored the Pennsylvania team’s tries while Syd Cope kicked two conversions. Temple is the reigning conference champ but has slid in the rankings simply because it hasn’t played any league matches yet. That will change this Saturday against Rowan, but field time cannot be underrated at this point in the season.
[Note: TRB adjusted records to reflect in-division games only. The Rocky Mountain DII teams play up against DI teams, and “down” against rebuilding teams in the provisional division, and those results had been included in the records previously.]
CRAA DII FALL 15s RANKING #4 |
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| Rank | Prev Rank | Team | Record | Results |
| 1 | 1 | Vassar College | 2-0 | 95-0 W v Albany. Upcoming: 10.9 RPI |
| 2 | 3 | CO School of Mines | 2-0 | 64-29 W v CO Mesa State. Upcoming: 10.9 New Mexico State |
| 3 | 4 | Univ. Vermont | 2-0 | 18-10 W v Coast Guard. Upcoming: 10.8 New Hampshire |
| 4 | 2 | Coast Guard Academy | 1-1 | 18-10 L v Vermont. Upcoming: 10.8 Maine |
| 5 | 8 | Kutztown Univ. | 2-0 | 41-0 W v St. Joseph Univ. Upcoming: 10.15 Salisbury |
| 6 | 5 | Colorado Mesa State | 1-1 | 64-29 L v CO School of Mines. Upcoming: 10.23 Colorado State (DI) |
| 7 | 9 | UMass Lowell | 2-0 | Idle. Upcoming: 10.8 Providence |
| 8 | 10 | Bloomsburg | 1-1 | 24-12 W v College of NJ, 26-22 L v Kutztown. Upcoming: 10.22 St. Joseph |
| 9 | 7 | Temple Univ. | 0-0 | Idle. Upcoming: 10.8 Rowan |
| 10 | unr | Columbia Univ. | 1-1 | 43-10 W v Fairfield. Upcoming: 10.9 Marist |
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