Women’s college rugby looks very different on either side of the New Year, and now is a good time to quickly recap what elapsed in the fall, current activity, and what will evolve through the spring until graduation in early May. The following is a general outline for the next six months, but it’s worth noting that events are perpetually added to the calendar, sometimes with little notice.
RELATED: 2025 Women’s Rugby Calendar of Events
There are three member organizations that oversee women’s college rugby in U.S.: Collegiate Rugby Association of America (CRAA), home to DIA and mostly West Coast programs; National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA), the league for the majority of NCAA varsity programs; and National Collegiate Rugby (NCR), the largest of the organizations.
PART 1: FALL 15s
NCR and NIRA follow the fall 15s / spring 7s format for the school year. NIRA named its 15s national champions (DI Harvard, DII AIC) in November, and NCR named its 15s national champions (DI Wheeling, DII Vassar, DIII Endicott) in early December. Both organizations have members that do not have the numbers for 15s, so there is a decent amount of 7s and 10s being played in the fall. Those teams aren’t, however, eligible for 15s postseasons.
CRAA used to hold seasonal championships (fall and spring) for its DI and DII membership, but 2024 marked the first year in which no fall championships were held for the women. All of its teams will play toward championships in the spring.
PART 2: SPRING 7s
Sevens dominates the NCR and NIRA schedules in the spring, but teams aren’t prohibited from playing 15s friendlies and tournaments. NCR kicks off the season with the all-star 7s tournament on Jan. 25-26 in Atlanta (read more), and then a series of qualifiers will send teams to the CRC 7s (April 25-27, Boyds, Md.). There are four CRC 7s divisions: Premier (which feature a handful of NIRA teams), DI Club, Division II and Division III. It’s worth noting that there are an equal amount of men’s and women’s teams at CRCs.
NIRA teams play 7s in March and April, generally, and then compete in a 7s championship with CRAA teams. 2025 event details are TBA, but traditionally the 7s tournament occurs the first weekend in May. Last year, there were two divisions: a top tier for the NCAA varsity and DIA teams; and a second tier for the DI and DII teams.
There were at least two national 7s qualifiers held in the fall: Arizona State beat Claremont Colleges for the DI Pacific Desert title; and DI Stanford, DII Cal Poly SLO and DII San Jose State qualified through the Best Coast 7s in Palo Alto. Additional at-large seeds might come out of those tournaments. Some of these teams might also feature in the CRCs, like Claremont, which won the DI Club title in 2024.
PART 3: SPRING 15s
CRAA women’s teams play toward spring-based 15s championships, and there are three titles to be decided: DIA, DI and DII. DIA will hold its semifinals on April 12 and national championship on April 19. In years past, the higher seeds have hosted those three games.
All DI and DII conferences (see below) activate in January at the latest. Traditionally, playoffs occur in April, and championships are the first weekend in May (2025 details TBA). Last year, the women’s DI and DII spring 15s finals were held the same weekend/location as the 7s championship tournament. That overlap posed a conflict for teams that had dual 7s and 15s title aspirations (although Cal Poly San Luis Obispo took on the challenge quite impressively).
CRAA WOMEN’S CONFERENCES
A couple of things to note: First, Claremont Colleges is counted twice because it has a team in Pacific Desert’s DI and DII. The West Coast conference has a 10s circuit going, and it’s possible that teams with big rosters, like UC Santa Cruz, will send a second side to those tournaments. Also, there’s nothing prohibiting a team from registering with both CRAA and NCR, and thus playing in both organizations’ competitions. In 2023-24, for example, Univ. Virginia played in the DI NCR 15s postseason and DI CRAA spring 15s postseason. That condition means there will be likely be edits to the following list:
DIA (5)
BYU
Central Washington Univ
Life Univ
Lindenwood Univ
Penn State
DIVISION I
PACIFIC DESERT (8)
Univ Arizona
Arizona State
Claremont Colleges — fields a 2nd side in Division II
Grand Canyon Univ
San Diego State Univ
Univ California, Los Angeles
Univ California, San Diego
Univ California, Santa Barbara
PACIFIC MOUNTAIN
North (5)
Gonzaga Univ – new team
Univ Oregon
Oregon State
Univ Washington
Western Washington
South (6)
Univ California, Berkeley (Cal)
Cal State Univ, Chico
Univ California, Davis
Fresno State Univ
Cal State Univ, Sacramento – self promoted from DII West Coast
Stanford Univ
DIVISION II
PACIFIC DESERT (8)
Univ California, Irvine
Univ California, Long Beach
Univ California, Northridge
Claremont Colleges — 1st side plays in DI
MiraCosta College
Univ Nevada, Las Vegas
Occidental College
Univ San Diego – hasn’t featured on 15s schedules yet but the young program was active in the fall
WEST COAST (10)
Cal Maritime Academy*
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
Cal Poly, Humboldt
Cal State Univ Monterey Bay*
Univ California, Santa Cruz – will field a 2nd side for the 10s division
Univ Nevada, Reno
Saint Mary’s College*
Univ San Francisco
San Jose State Univ
Santa Clara Univ
*Playing 10s
FLORIDA — update needed
It looks like there is one Florida team competing in CRAA competitions: Eckerd College, which featured in the 2024 DII spring 15s final. CRAA lists six DII teams on its membership page, but four of those teams aligned with NCR, along with its DI Florida counterparts.
INDEPENDENT
U.S. Air Force Academy — played 15s in the fall against NCR teams in the High Peaks conference (formerly, Rocky Mountain conference), but abstained from NCR playoffs. As the only fall-based CRAA women’s team, Air Force ended its fall season in early December with a Bowl game against DIA Penn State. The match was part of a larger CRAA Fall Classic, and Penn State won 48-17. The 2025 schedule has not yet posted, but the assumption is CRAA 7s prep for the spring.
CRAA also lists Wheeling University and Virginia as independent members. Wheeling won the NCR DI 15s national championship in the fall, and is booting back up for the CRAA DI 15s title in the spring. The Cardinals are also playing in the NCR 7s circuit and will be seeking qualification for the CRCs. Going for it!
Virginia is playing friendlies only and touring to Ireland during Spring Break, so there are no plans for an at-large to spring 15s playoffs or CRAA 7s.
SPRING 2025 RECAP
blue = NCR • green = CRAA
Jan 25-26: NCR All-Star 7s @ Atlanta
Jan-April: CRAA 15s regular season
February-April: CRC 7s Qualifiers (current list)
April 12: DIA Semifinals @ TBD
April 19: DIA National Championship @ TBD
April 25-27: CRC 7s @ Boyds, Md.
May 4-5: CRAA 7s championships @ TBD
early May: CRAA 15s championships @ TBD