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NIRA Latest: Academy Rivalry, Top DII Clash

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NIRA Latest: Academy Rivalry, Top DII Clash

Navy looks ahead to Army this weekend. Photo David Hughes.

While it seems like the semifinalists in NIRA D1 are set, there's still plenty to play for.

The grand rivalry match between Army and Navy will be the Game of the Week on The Rugby Network, kicking off at 6PM ET here>>

Army or Navy could jump up in the standings, perhaps as high as 5th, but the semifinals aren't going to change. This is about the service academy rivalry.

Sacred heart takes on Long Island, Queens hosts Princeton, and Dartmouth is at Brown. For Dartmouth, they are licking their wounds after losses to Lindenwood (non-conference) and Harvard.

Dartmouth head Coach Katie Dowty said her team learned a lot from that loss to Harvard, especially when it's cold and wet and you need to keep the ball tight and, as she said "rumble in the trenches." 

What Dartmouth really needed to do was stick with the plan "play in the attacking half. Our back three had opportunities but we needed to stay with it and paint the corners and do that continuously. We played some really good defense but we didn't stay patient enough. The fire's lit."

Quinnipiac will want to tighten their grip on 4th with a win vs Mount St. Mary's. The Mount is improving nicely, but it's a tough ladder to climb. They tied Navy last week and that was a good showing for them.

DII and DIII

Lander defeated West Chester last week coming back from 14-7 down to score three converted tries in the space of 15 minutes. Lander has a variety of weapons and showed some mettle in the comeback as they have won all their other games in fairly convincing fashion. This coming weekend they play club team Central Florida, and wouldn't it be great if UCF used a fixture like this to push the varsity movement? Lander is now 3-0 in the DII South. 

AIC and Davenport are 1-0 in the DII North, and they play each other this weekend. This is a huge game for both. The winner hosts a semifinal. The last time they met Davenport won 22-19, and it could well be that close this time around.

In DIII Bowdoin cruised past a tough Adrian side 42-13 behind Saniya Ridley's three tries and two from Colleen Doucette. That put the Polar Bears at 5-0 and they'll stay there because this week's game with UNE is postponed due to the horrific shooting in Lewiston this past week.

UNE is 2nd in the DIII and will play Bowdoin probably next week. But the semifinals are probably set—Adrian vs UNE and Norwich at Bowdoin