Small College 15s competitions are wrapping up their regular seasons and moving into conference playoffs, and the National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) Coaches Poll keeps the community educated on important results. The following lends a little context to the latest Top 20 list and touches on some important games in the near future.
NCR has already circulated the regional playoff details, including where each conference champion will be heading on Nov. 11-12. Also check in with the Top 10 Division I teams as well as the Division II Top 20.
REMEMBER: At-large applications are due on Oct. 21! Every pool has one at-large berth that needs to be filled, so if you’re having a good season and want to know how you compare to the competition outside of your league, then consider an at-large spot. Read more.
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NCR SMALL COLLEGE COACHES POLL
1. Endicott (Colonial Coast). Reigning national champion continues to play that. Undefeated and played its toughest match against DII Roger Williams, a 20-15 win to the Hawks. Plymouth State is this Saturday and then conference championship on Oct. 28.
2. St. Bonaventure (Upstate NY / West). Makenna Ramsey scored seven tries during the team’s NCR Friday Night Lights win against Niagara. The conference moves into semifinals this weekend, and St. Bonaventure hosts SUNY Oswego. Final is next weekend and the victor advances to Culpepper, Va., for regionals.
3. Colby (Rugby Northeast). The Maine team shut out Bentley last weekend and notably played DII Roger Williams to a 7-15 loss in September. Bryant and Middlebury will close out the regular season.
4. Lee Univ. (South Atlantic / West). The Flames are undefeated against DII and SC competition in all of SARC. This Saturday’s match against DII Appalachian State will hopefully be a good tune-up, and the conference championship will be against The Citadel on Oct. 28. When they played each other on Sept. 16, Lee won 58-0.
5. SUNY Cortland (Upstate NY / East). The Peace Frogs played and won all four league matches in September and have been healing in advance of this Saturday’s semifinals. Cortland will host Niagara and the final is Oct. 28. This conference is a good option for an at-large berth.
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6. Northern Michigan (Great Waters / North). Dropped four places after its 27-22 loss to UW Platteville last Saturday. Platteville meanwhile gained nine spots and sits at #10. The conference moves into crossover playoffs on Nov. 4-5.
7. Wayne State College (Prairie States). The Wildcats have played a South Dakota/Prairie States combination squad a couple of times and pushed itself against DI Lone Star Southern Nazarene (61-7 loss). Friendly against Omaha GOATS, a senior women’s club, coming up. Not seeing much else on the schedule until regionals in St. Louis, where the Northern Lights and Mid-America champs will also be.
8. York College (Eastern Pennsylvania). 3-0 in league, played its last game on Sept. 29 against Loyola Maryland (34-7 W). Biding time until conference semifinals/final on Oct. 28-29.
9. East Stroudsburg (Eastern Pennsylvania). Beat Shippensburg, took forfeit win vs. Susquehanna and has Scranton this weekend. Conference championships are Oct. 28-29.
10. UW Platteville (Great Waters / North). Beat Northern Michigan 27-22 and the weekend prior beat DII-ranked UW Stevens Point. There’s Michigan Tech this weekend and a big push against DII national champ UW Eau Claire on Oct. 28. Conference playoffs are Nov. 4-5.
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11. Chicago (Great Waters / South). As the only SC in the Great Waters’ South division, it’s playing all DII competition prior to playoffs. Chicago beat DePaul and lost to Northwestern and Loyola. UIC and Illinois are the next two weekends.
12. Baldwin Wallace (Ohio Valley). The Berea-based team beat Kenyon 34-5 and Kent State’s B side in a 40-15 friendly. Wooster is this Saturday and then there’s supposed to be a regionals play-in match against an Allegheny team (Gannon).
13. Siena (Tri-State). The Albany-area team is top SC of the six competing in the conference. The majority are concentrated in the Central Division, save Drew in the South. Oct. 28 semifinals are already sorted: Siena hosts Drew, and Hofstra hosts Molloy. Higher seed hosts Nov. 5 championship and victor advances to Henniker, N.H., for regionals.
14. Salve Regina (Colonial Coast). Second-best in the conference but still a decent gap (60-12 loss) behind leader Endicott. Season ends against UMaine Farmington, then conference final on Oct. 28.
15. Gannon (Allegheny). The Pennsylvania team could use a little more field time, too. After beating IUP in its opener, the team has only played Wooster (to a 78-17 win). The team was meant to contest a play-in game against an Ohio Valley rep before regionals, and that would be a welcomed match.
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16. Niagara (Upstate NY). The team took a big shutout loss to St. Bonaventure last Friday and another big test awaits in this Saturday’s conference semifinal against SUNY Cortland.
17. Plymouth State (Colonial Coast). Beat UMass Dartmouth by 50 points last weekend, but has also lost to Salve Regina. No. 1-ranked Endicott is this weekend.
18. SUNY Oswego (Upstate NY/North). Team beat its two North mates and sampled the competition in the two other pools, defeating the West’s Brockport and losing to the East’s Geneseo 21-12. Oswego plays St. Bonaventure in this Saturday’s conference semifinals.
19. MSU Moorhead (Northern Lights). Moorhead and Gustavus Adolphus played each other last weekend to a 22-22 tie, so the fact that they’re beside each other makes sense. Macalaster is this weekend and then it’ll be a rematch between Moorhead and Gustavus for the conference title.
20. Gustavus Adolphus (Northern Lights). 2-0-1 in the conference with wins against College of St. Scholastica and Macalaster and last weekend’s tie against Moorhead. This Saturday is DII North Dakota State, then Moorhead again for the chance to advance to regionals in St. Louis.
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