Where Are We in Women's NCR D1?
Where Are We in Women's NCR D1?
Several teams are bubbling to the top in NCR’s Women’s D1 college competition.
With sanity prevailing and Life University’s development not in the competition this year (the Life U. youngsters won comfortably in 2021), the chase is a more crowded one.
However, there remains a striking disparity between school-supported teams and club teams.
Notre Dame College
Under coach Jack Nece NDC has built their numbers and are firing quite nicely, thank you. With Mary McLoughlin and Gabby Dispenza scoring tries, Bella Gullatta getting full value with her goalkicking, and power-running captain Alivia Leatherman leading by example, the Falcons have been fairly dominant. Dispenza has brought more tenacity to the backline, while McLoughlin is a power at prop. Alexis Smerek is playing well in her first year at fullback while Leatherman, also a prop is just a force.
They have won three matches so far, all again teams that are leading or close to leading their conferences—Northern Iowa, Bowling Green, and Colgate.
But they hit a bit of a wall with Davenport, which will be a fill NCAA NIRA side next year. The Falcons were competitive and played a hard, physical game, but Davenport ultimately ran away from them 59-21.
“Playing Davenport really showed what the next level looks like in terms of physicality and fitness, and the players realized that,” said Nece. “We have added an emphasis on defensive pressure and not allowing opponents to run downhill against us. But honestly, the girls needed some time off to recover physically and mentally before attacking the back half of our season. We utilized fall break to give a few days off from training and practice. Coming into this stretch refreshed and focused will hopefully result in success in the coming weeks.”
Kent State
Chasing NDC for sure, but Kent State has logged wins over Bowling Green, Pitt, Youngstown State, and IUP. Looming now is University at Buffalo and then the Falcons.
Michigan
Having beaten University of Notre Dame, Iowa, and Purdue, Michigan is 3-0 in the Big 10 But has Ohio State, Indiana, and Michigan State to go. Led by some brave and scrappy outside backs and a hard-hitting center pairing of Riley Fish and Barb Ribiero, while flankers Audrey Corriere and Lauren Kuffel lead a pressure defense.
Texas A&M and Southern Nazarene
The Aggies have beaten Texas, UTSA, Texas Tech Texas State, as have SNU. A&M’s average score is 46-11, which is impressive. SNU, the new school-supported team, has dominated. They won one game via forfeit against Texas, and then beat UT Santa Antonio, Texas Tech, Texas State, and Pitt State by a combined score of 444-32, an average score of 111-8.
What Southern Nazarene has is a young roster but a quick, fit roster, especially in the pack.
SNU has been dominant in set piece while their backs have really outpaced their opposite numbers.
Telesi Uhatafe scored eight tries in in her debut and really hasn’t looked back since. No. 8 Ashleigh Brooks leads the forwards as they power through defenses.
Southern Nazarene does a really good job of keeping the ball alive, and that wears down defenses.
Dark Horses
Colgate won comfortably over Syracuse, Cornell, Buffalo, and Binghamton. But they did meet up with NDC and lost 49-10. Boise State just recently beat Oregon State 95-0, and don’t forget that Northern Iowa, after losing to NDC, has gone 3-0. UNI is set to play Queens University in a non-conference game, which should be an intriguing test.