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The Midwest Rugby Union officially wrapped on its women’s Division I and Division II 15s regular seasons last weekend, and now it’s time for playoff rugby. Division I begins at the semifinal stage and will thus enjoy a bye through the upcoming Oct. 31 weekend. Division II, however, starts with quarterfinals and will kick off those crossover matches on Halloween. [lead photo: Stephanie Duncan @stephanieduncanphoto]
The union hasn’t officially announced the DII quarterfinal match-ups, but that news should be circulating later today (Monday). This post will update at that point. With that said, the Midwest outlined the overall structure for playoffs: The five league winners automatically advance to the Round of 8, and the remaining three slots are filled by wild cards. The overall higher seeds will host their quarterfinals (and semifinals).
Four quarterfinalists posted undefeated regular-season records and will host their respective quarterfinals. Palmer College dominated the Chicago-area competition (CARFU) at 6-0 and will host Saturday’s knockout in Davenport, Iowa. Circle City Tempests also posted big scores in the Central pool en route to an 8-0 record. South Buffalo went 8-0 in the Northern group, and interestingly, second-place Buffalo and third-place Rochester went 4-4, making for a very fun league to follow this fall. And in the Western league, Milwaukee Scylla dominated during its 8-0 season.
In the Eastern competition, the Cleveland Iron Maidens (7-1) and Pittsburgh Forge traded wins when playing at home, but the latter also dropped a match to the Columbus Squirrels to finish 6-2. With that said, one assumes the Forge will receive a wild card berth to the quarterfinals. The western Pennsylvania team also has its DI side in playoffs.
In terms of additional wild card teams in the quarterfinals, options include CARFU runner-up Chicago Sirens (4-2), Central #2 Cincinnati Wolfhounds (6-2), Western #2 Wisconsin (6-2), and potentially Buffalo or Rochester . Check out the standings.
DII Midwest Leagues / Top-2 Finishers
CARFU #1 Palmer College (6-0)
CARFU #2 Chicago Sirens (4-2)
Central #1 Circle City (8-0)
Central #2 Cincinnati Wolfhounds (6-2)
Eastern #1 Cleveland Iron Maidens (7-1)
Eastern #2 Pittsburgh Forge (6-2)
Northern #1 South Buffalo (8-0)
Northern #2 Buffalo (4-4)
Western #1 Milwaukee Scylla (8-0)
Western #2 Wisconsin (6-2)
On Saturday, Nov. 7, both DI and DII will move into the semifinal stage. DI has already been decided:
East #2 Columbus Squirrels @ West #1 Chicago Lions
West #2 Chicago North Shore @ East #1 Pittsburgh Forge
And then the full slate of Midwest 15s championships will occur at the Chicago Blaze rugby facility in Lemont, Ill., on Saturday, Nov. 14. There will also be a DIII all-star match for those teams that competed in the Festival Division this year. Midwest champions will then secure their spots in the springtime Super Regional Championships.