One half of the USA Rugby Women DII College's Fall Championship, hosted by ACRA, Northeast bracket is straightforward: Bowdoin College hosts Colorado College; Rutgers hosts St. Michael’s. The victors of this weekend’s matches will play each other at the Round of 16 in Hanover, N.H. We’re expecting next weekend’s game to be between Bowdoin and Rutgers.

Bowdoin College dominated the New England Small College, again, and posted an 8-0 record en route to its third consecutive conference title. Co-captains Emily Athanas-Linden and Hayleigh Kein lead a very talented squad, the most dangerous of which include sophomore flanker Paige Pfannenstiel, senior No. 8 Randi London, sophomore center Samantha Hoegle, and junior center Addison Carvajal. Read more about the team’s season.

The Polar Bears have the luxury of playing its Round of 32 game at home, and Colorado College did the national playoffs proud by organizing a cross-country trip in less than a week. As dropouts like UW Whitewater, Harvard and Texas A&M stress the playoff brackets, it’s refreshing to witness a responsible – in commitment and finances – program make the best of a difficult situation.

Despite finishing third at the Rocky Mountain championship, Colorado College is the better suited team to represent the region. The team lost to eventual champion Utah Valley by two points in the semis and is in much better shape personnel wise than #2 Mesa State. Read more about how they got to nationals.

Bowdoin is live-streaming the Round of 32 match on Sunday, and expect to hear Rachel Gonchar’s name repeatedly. The No. 8 scored three of four tries against Utah Valley (Emilia Delgado scored the fourth) and has been a great threat all season.

That said, expect the home team to triumph and move onto the Round of 16, where the Polar Bears will face the winner of Rutgers vs. St. Michael’s.

The New Jersey side is favored in this matchup, having dethroned Vassar for the Tri-State crown. Rutgers went undefeated during the league season and used a patient, well disciplined defense to keep games in its favor, and used its hard-charging ballcarriers to test and eventually break the tackle consistency of its opponents. Erin “Animal” Arroyo is a deadly threat out wide, and don’t forget about Junior All American scrumhalf Miranda Previte. Rutgers gets a lot of great work out of Sarah DeLuca, Kristen Siano, Michelle Ready and Kathryn Hussey as well.

St. Michael’s knows how to score as well, and Caroline Smith is the best of them. Not far behind are Enny Mustapha, Katharine Tooke, Monica McClure and Katie Fathrop, all of whom contributed to a near-perfect season. Finishing second to Rugby Northeast, St. Michael’s lone loss came at the hands of conference champion Stonehill College, which had built a 28-0 lead before ending 33-12.

Both St. Michael’s and Rutgers have had the benefit of playing at least one close match during its fall season, so they know how to fight for a win, and that’s what we’re expecting on Saturday. In the end, Rutgers should have enough fire power to get past the Vermont side.

The other half of the bracket sees Marist travel to the Coast Guard Academy, and the victor will play the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Conference’s #2 team, which will be decided this weekend. Marist earned an at-large bid as the Tri-State’s #3 team. Marist ended its conference season with a promising 59-24 win over Hofstra – a team that appeared to have the goods for a post-season appearance – but showed significant distance between conference winner Rutgers (48-0 loss in semifinals) and #2 Vassar (37-5) loss.

Coast Guard was more successful in the New England Wide conference, winning it on standings points despite a 14-5 loss to Vermont. The title means that Marist must travel to New London, Conn., for the opening round.

It’s a tough pick where the general strength of each conference is pulled into question, but we’re going with the Cadets to get past the first round and see MARC’s #2 team in the Round of 16.

To see the DII brackets in their entirety, click here.