Men DII College News
It was a busy Sunday in Men’s DII college rugby, as all but three national playoff positions were decided.
It will be Rowan University against IUP in the MARC Conference final Sunday after both won semifinals Saturday.
IUP defeated York in one semi, while Rowan beat Drexel by a surprisingly close score of 25-11.
“I think we started slowly,” said Rowan co-captain JC Carr. “We tried to do a little too much; we weren’t patient.”
Sunday sees the two teams everyone expect to be there playing for the Cardinals Conference final, but it almost didn’t happen that way.
While Goff Rugby Report #3 Virginia Military Institute won comfortably, 58-0 over Virginia Commonwealth, #24 Old Dominion had all sorts of problems with #32 Mary Washington, coming back to win 29-25.
Two second-half tries put Grand Valley State past Xavier University of Cincinnati to give GVSU the Great Lakes Conference championship and a place in the 2015 Men’s DII College playoffs.
It will be Coastal Carolina and UNC-Wilmington in the final of the Southern Rugby Conference after both won semifinals on Saturday.
Coastal was ranked by Goff Rugby Report lower than East Carolina, and in fact GRR predicted ECU would win this semi, but Coastal won going away 55-26.
“We felt we could win this one, but it took a while,” said Coast Head Coach Thomas Barnett.