Women's DI Preview

Big Ten champion Purdue is the top seed in the East, and Northeastern is No 1 in the West, but this is arguably the most competitive division in the entire Collegiate Rugby Championship, with every conference in the country represented. Evidenced by last year’s champion and runner-up, Claremont Colleges and Oregon, coming in as two and four seeds, respectively.  

The Boilermakers reward for winning Wolverine 7s and Trainwreck 7s is making their CRC debut with a target on their backs. With wins over tournament teams Colorado State, Northern Iowa and Notre Dame, they’ve earned it.

Northeastern is without one All-American, speedster Kourtney Bichotte-Dunner, but they’ll have another in the powerful Molly McAlevey. The Huskies have played a lot of 7s this spring, amassing a 10-8-1 record, though every loss came against Premier Cup teams, as did a couple of wins. 

Players to Watch

Notre Dame is paced by All-American Mia Blocher, a prolific try scorer and fleet-footed playmaker. The Fighting Irish will go as she does. 

Northern Iowa has a pair of All-Americans in Emma Hastings and Morgan Linck, as many as any team in the competition. Linck has earned the honor all three years of her intercollegiate career, making her the most decorated player in the field.  

Iowa’s Erica Coulibaly is one of the most recent players to make the jump from CRC breakout star to the United States national team, and hoping to follow in her footsteps is Hawkeye All-American Gillian McRae

Cinderella Candidate

The team to unseat reigning champion Claremont Colleges in conference play and claim the Pacific Desert title is Arizona State. The Sun Devils are fast, physical and hungry.