Photo: MIDN 1/C Grace Rovira
The first blips of collegiate 15s action (outside of NIRA) appeared last weekend. This weekend’s hefty lineup of matches will feed the first DI and DII College Fall Rankings of the season, and the following is a preview of those teams being considered for inclusion – based on their matches last weekend.
RELATED: Fixtures & Results: Sept. 7-8
Four games in Division I drew attention. 2018 fall runner-up Davenport University (Independent) blanked Allegheny’s Kent State 94-0. Freshmen Addy Ochoa and Lauren Peterson set up the first try, and then the Panthers were off. Megan Bird and Olivia Ortiz had multi-try days, while Mariah Pruitt was named MVP. Davenport has compiled a solid schedule this fall, testing itself against NIRA, DI Elite and DI Big Ten squads.
Fellow Independent Navy beat UVA 38-7 last weekend. The academy also has a good-looking schedule (they play Davenport Sept. 28) that includes a couple of senior clubs as well as 2018 fall champion Air Force and Princeton, which is ineligible for playoffs this year but playing a full schedule. [Side note: Josie Ziluca is Princeton’s new head coach.]
Utah State won its first Rocky Mountain league game last weekend, beating Utah Valley 75-14. Seven players scored the 13 tries, and outside center Abigail Hymas accounted for four of them. Fullback Kielee Kinghorn and No. 8 Diana May also had multi-try days. Several players took shots at goal, including Jaynee Taufoou, who was playing scrumhalf.
Finally, Winona State won the All-Minnesota Tournament, a pre-season event that involves DI and DII teams alike. The Black Katts, which finished second to Vassar last fall, have joined the DI Midwest this year, and that competition begins this weekend. Eager to see how the team figures into the league.
In Division II, it was really only Upstate New York that fully launched its season, and the four-team Rocky Mountain also contested its first league game. That silence breaks this weekend.
Upstate New York is a big conference that includes and interweaves DII and NSCRO teams. Expect NSCRO teams in the DII hybrid league to do well and to challenge the notion that “small school” means “lesser than.” On opening weekend, five of the six NSCRO teams (*) in the hybrid league beat their DII opponents:
Geneseo* 34-14 Buffalo State
Cortland 42-17 Oswego*
Colgate* 35-7 Binghamton
RIT 75-0 Brockport
Syracuse 52-12 Rochester
St. Bonaventure* 27-14 Fredonia
Syracuse, RIT and Cortland all debuted with strong performances and will be watched come DII rankings time.
Reigning Rocky Mountain champion Colorado Mesa stepped out with a 79-17 win over Colorado College. Eleven players scored the 13 tries, and No. 8 Audrey Kachin led all point-scorers with 24 on two tries and seven conversions. The game also saw the debut of United notable Princess Tafiti, who scored a try from flyhalf.
Keep in mind that conferences like DI Blue Ridge (formerly Mason-Dixon), DII Capital and DII Mid-America, among others, contest league games in the fall and spring, but their members are vying toward the spring championship titles. Thus, these teams will not appear in the forthcoming DI and DII Fall College Rankings, but will receive reportage.