CRAA Post-Season Sealed on Nov. 6

The College Rugby Association of America (CRAA) is close to filling its Division I and Division II fall championship brackets. This Saturday will name a slew of conference champions and runners-up, and that’ll do the job. Both divisions have play-in rounds on Nov. 12, and those winners will filter into the DI semifinals and DII quarterfinals on Nov. 19. Fall championships are Dec. 3-4 in Charlotte, N.C.

RELATED: Women’s Rugby Scores: Oct. 28-30

Keep in mind that TRB is operating off of brackets circulated in mid-October, so there may have been changes to post-season match-ups since that time, especially as the DII playoff sites are being secured. But the conference updates are accurate.

DIVISION I RUGBY

Since the previous update on Oct. 19, some important games have evolved, and now the play-in round is complete with match-ups. The top dogs in the Rugby Northeast faced each other last weekend, and Northeastern beat UCONN 39-10. Maddogs captain Grace Pattarini led with 19 points on two tries, three conversions and a penalty, and leads the league in points scored with 70 overall. Kourtney Bichotte-Dunner dotted down three tries, while Louise Groton also scored for Northeastern. UCONN got its tries through Keisha Durden, who leads the league with 12 tries this fall, and Vanessa Santana.

There is one more week of league play, but Northeastern has secured its spot in the Nov. 19 semifinals at Navy. UCONN (3-1) has UMASS (2-2) this Saturday, and there are four standings points between them, so the Huskies can’t afford to lose. That said, UCONN is the favorite and win would mean hosting Virginia Tech for the Nov. 12 play-in.

Virginia Tech played a “fit, disciplined and methodical,” Navy (per Virginia Tech coach Garrett Thompson) on Oct. 22 and took a 56-7 loss. Navy is the other independent team that must get through the play-ins in order to compete in the semifinals. The Midshipmen lost a 19-12 decision to NIRA D3 Queens Univ. of Charlotte last Saturday and are scheduled for a Nov. 12 road game against the Rocky Mountain runner-up.

The Rocky Mountain hinges on this Saturday’s game between Utah State and Colorado State. Utah State is undefeated but had to fend off Colorado in a 31-27 decision to keep its record in perfect condition. Colorado State has only lost to Air Force (26-17), which has only lost to Utah State. So a Colorado State win this weekend would make things very interesting, as three teams would be 4-1 and potentially all have 20 standings points. The conference did not clarify its tie breaking procedures.

Since Navy must play the runner-up in the Nov. 12 play-in round, it means a late booking for travel.  Conference champ and play-in victor head to Annapolis on Nov. 19.

DIVISION II RUGBY

This weekend’s conference finals will fill in the Nov. 12 play-in round, which feed into the Nov. 19 quarterfinals. The fall Rounds of 8/4 (aka, regional championships) occur Nov. 19-20, but CRAA has not officially announced their locations (although individual teams have reported that Golden, Colo., and Navy are the sites). So stay tuned. The fall final is the weekend of Dec. 3-4 in Charlotte, N.C.

Mid-Atlantic: The conference held its semifinals last Saturday. Reigning conference champ Temple beat Bloomsburg 90-5, while Kutztown topped Delaware 60-7. Temple hosts the final this weekend, and the winner advances directly to the quarterfinals. Runner-up will host the Tri-State runner-up for the Nov. 12 play-in.

New England Wide: It’s a Vermont vs. Coast Guard final this Saturday. UVM has won both regular-season matches by single digits, and the title bout occurs on neutral ground. Winner is quarterfinal bound, runner-up travels to Rugby Northeast runner-up on Nov. 12.

Rocky Mountain: A thriller of a final occurred between Colorado School of Mines and Colorado Mesa Univ. (interview forthcoming), and the Orediggers held on for the 24-21. Both head directly to the quarterfinals.

 

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Rugby Northeast: Providence College is undefeated and heads to the quarterfinals. UMass Lowell beat Wheaton 62-5 last weekend to secure the runner-up spot and heads to playoffs for the first time in 14 years. Lowell will host the New England Wide runner-up on Nov. 12.

Tri-State: The conference held its quarterfinals last weekend. Reigning fall champion Vassar beat Marist 76-19 – a day after it beat NIRA D3 Bowdoin College 26-19 in Maine. An impressive showing of depth. But watch out for Fairfield, which did something no team within the conference has done in some time: It beat Vassar 41-19 on Oct. 22. Fairfield started the post-season with a 104-0 win against Albany and will face Columbia, which topped Montclair State 55-20 on Saturday, in the semifinals. RPI beat Siena 34-15 in the closest quarterfinal of the weekend and will face Vassar this Saturday. The conference final will be held at the higher seed on Sunday, Nov. 6.