USAR College NCS Fall Series 2018

Vassar, Winona, Cincinnati, Coast Guard Vie For Women D2 Title

Vassar, Winona, Cincinnati, Coast Guard Vie For Women D2 Title

Four teams are left in the Women's D2 College fall playoffs after Sunday's action.

Nov 19, 2018 by Alex Goff
Vassar, Winona, Cincinnati, Coast Guard Vie For Women D2 Title

Four teams are left in the Women's D2 College fall playoffs after Sunday's action, and they will chase a national title Dec 1-2 in Charlotte, NC LIVE on FloRugby.

Winona State, Cincinnati, Coast Guard Academy, and Vassar will compete for the championship after all four won their quarterfinals on Sunday.

Watch Women's D2 College Semis And Final LIVE on FloRugby Dec 1-2

Winona State

In the closest game of the day, Minnesota's Winona State edged surprise contender Colorado Mesa 37-33. Winona State seemed to be in control with 15 minutes to go after four tries from the team's front row of Makayla Leraas (two tries), Sydney Stokes, and Julia Pokorny (one each). But down 37-19 Mesa roared back to make it a game, and Winona State had to hold on.

Colorado Mesa flyhalf Tyneesha Houkamau scored all five of Mesa's tries, to go with the three she scored Saturday against UW-Oshkosh.

Vassar

Back for another shot, Vassar got three tries from prop Kaitlin Prado and ran out to a 34-7 lead over Bryant. Bryant made a run at it but Vassar was too much and Kayla Vasquez's try sealed it 41-24.

Head coach Tony Brown praised his team for sticking to the task despite cold, wet, slushy conditions that made ball handling difficult. The Brewers, he said, were able to inject energy into their play despite the weather.

Cincinnati

In keeping with the theme of the day, the winning team tried to run up as big a score early and weather the comeback as all teams had to deal with a two-game weekend. Cincy did the job. Tries from Alaina Tarr, Justine Perl, and Kendra Peterson staked Cincinnati to a 19-0 lead. Paige Roller scored to answer a try from IUP, and Tarr added her second.

Cincinnati cruised 34-17. IUP's Emily Ryan scored five tries on the weekend.

Coast Guard

The US Coast Guard Academy was virtually untouchable all weekend, and slammed a very solid Bloomsburg team 65-7 on Sunday. 

Fullback Hollis Roush accounted for 20 points on the day, to go with 16 from the day before against Fairfield. Lock Hayden Short scored four tries against Bloomsberg and wing Catherine Burns added two to go with the two she scored on Saturday.

While the other three teams were somewhat tested on Sunday, Coast Guard ended the weekend with 128 points scored, and 12 allowed, and go into the finals weekend as favorites.