Seven women’s teams have earned automatic qualification to the 2025 Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC) thus far, and the build to Boyds, Md., only builds momentum from here. Remember that the men’s tournament occurs from Friday-Saturday, April 25-26, and the women’s tournament occurs Saturday-Sunday, April 26-27. [lead photo: Florida State at the 2024 CRC 7s / Jackie Finlan]

RELATED: Where do the men stand? Read the full NCR release.

There are four women’s divisions for the CRC 7s — Premier, DI Club, DII and DIII — and each bracket will feature 16 teams apiece. Both the men’s and women’s tournaments will include 64 teams apiece.

The Women’s Premier Division saw its first team qualify last weekend, as American International College claimed first place at Frostbite 7s in Lancaster, Pa. The Yellowjackets went undefeated across two days of play and silenced Penn State 43-0 in the final. The Springfield, Mass., also competed in the 2024 CRCs. [Aside: Head coach T Fletcher helped the USA South to a Classic Can-Am Series win in early March.]

DI Club knows two of its title contenders, and they’re both from Florida — which makes sense from weather point of view. Florida State University hosted and won the Love at First Ruck tournament in mid-February, and is home to the two NCR Florida All-Star 7s coaches, Jen Fasano and Ashford Evans-Brown. Fasano played collegiate ball at the University of Central Florida, which will also be present in Maryland next month. The Orlando-based team traveled to Guilford College (Greensboro, N.C.) for the Gate City 7s, and beat out North Carolina State, Howard University and James Madison en route to the final: a 17-10 win against NC State.

Division II has held three qualifiers already, and Coastal Carolina won two of them — Love at First Ruck and Gate City. At the latter, the Chanticleers beat Georgia Tech 14-5 in the final, and the CRCs berth went to the Atlanta side. Bowling Green State University won the Great Lakes Indoor 7s, held in Grand Rapids, Mich. The Ohio side beat host Grand Valley State University in the final for the trip to the East Coast.

Division III held its first qualifier at the St. Patrick’s 7s in Rolla, Mo. Drury University out of Springfield went 4-0 on the day, beating Missouri S&T, Southern Illinois, McKendree University and Colorado School of Mines in the title match. Drury will make its debut at CRCs.

This weekend, watch the Hawkeye 7s, an indoor event in Iowa City, Iowa, for another DI qualifier, as well as Razorback 7s in Arkansas for a DII addition.

QUALIFIED TEAMS

Women’s Premier Cup
• American Int’l College (Springfield, Mass.): Frostbite @ Lancaster, Pa.

Women’s DI Club
• Florida State Univ.: Love at First Ruck @ Tallahassee, Fla.
• Univ. Central Florida (Orlando, Fla.): Gate City 7s @ Greensboro, N.C.

Women’s DII
• Coastal Carolina Univ. (Conway, S.C.): Love at First Ruck @ Tallahassee, Fla.
• Bowling Green State Univ. (Bowling Green, Ohio): Great Lakes Indoor 7s @ Grand Rapids, Mich.
• Georgia Tech (Atlanta, Ga.): Gate City 7s @ Greensboro, N.C.

Women’s DIII
• Drury Univ. (Springfield, Mo.): St. Patrick 7s @ Rolla, Mo.