Photo courtesy Salisbury Women’s Instagram (@suwomensrugby)
The conferences that feed into the DII Spring College Ranking all move at different paces. Capital concludes in the fall, others play split seasons, and others still concentrate all games in the spring. Nevertheless, there is enough action a month into 2020 to start the DII rankings.
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Salisbury University came within a score of winning the DII Spring College Championship last year and that shortcoming has fueled another furiously determined squad. The Maryland team allowed 20 points against during the regular season and playoffs, which it plays in the fall, and is the leading contender for the 2020 title. Read more. Capital runner-up William & Mary is also on the list, despite the final result against Salisbury, for the 6-1 season and solid win against Towson in the fall.
During the fall Claremont College won a berth to the USA Rugby College 7s National Championship in May, and rolled that momentum into the 15s league season. The Foxes scored 141 points in two games, with Sophie Baker, Robyn Collins, Molly Ferguson and Nana Esi Igyan starting to rack up tries. Long Beach State is also on the list, banking wins against UC Riverside and Occidental so far.
Cal Poly is the breakout team of the season thus far, going 5-0 in the West Coast. Mustangs coach Zack Markow talked about the team’s early success, and the rankings are keeping watch. With Fresno State in DI and St. Mary’s College rebuilding this season, there’s a nice race for in the top half of the league. Univ. Nevada – Reno gets the nod after the closest decision against Cal Poly, but Santa Clara and San Jose State are on the watch list.
Pittsburg State drew attention with a win over Mid-America power Kansas State, and is adding tournaments and friendlies to an otherwise light league schedule. Coach Jamie O’Donnell said the team is going for it in terms going as far as it can this first official season.
UNC Charlotte and College of Charleston (CoC) are teams of interest in the Carolinas conference. The played each other in the fall, and the latter won 27-19. In 2020, CoC took a forfeit win against Appalachian State and shut out Charleston women and the Citadel in friendlies. The Mean Green beat Coastal Carolina 26-5 on Saturday.
Last weekend also marked opening weekend for SIRC, which is missing Tulane this year. Alabama hosted and defeated Univ. of Georgia 31-24. Life University sent its JV team, which is playing non-league games in SIRC to fill out the schedule. Those results, as one might expect, are lopsided. Georgia Tech also beat UT Chattanooga, 30-12, and was meant to play Alabama Sunday, but the game didn’t happen.
Finally, Eckerd is on the list despite not having contested a league match yet. The Sirens will open up its DII Florida season on Feb. 15, but posted some telling results in late fall, namely a 78-5 win against DI University of Florida and 58-12 win against Kennesaw State. Eckerd has the highest CIPP numbers of any of the DII-ranked teams – all of the teams’ registration numbers are listed in the first iteration of the spring rankings – and is one of two 2019 spring semifinalists competing this season (Tulane is playing a friendly season and Fresno State is DI now).
