Saturday, April 21 was a weird day. You don’t often see teams with losing records win playoff games. We look at one team that did just that.

It was another interesting weekend at the women’s college championships. Without fail, the teams came through and supplied all of the on-field drama for which one hopes at the national level. Off-field factors, however, tinged an otherwise great tournament.

First, the regional location format presented some inconsistencies. USA Rugby attempted to limit traveling expenditures by choosing four tournament sites around the country, and while some teams like Ohio State, Stanford and Princeton benefited, others suffered.

Mobile, Ala., was chosen for the southern location, and while the staff and facilities were top-notch, it’s not a convenient travel site. Northeast champion Brown wiped out its travel budget getting to Mobile, which is a difficult city to fly into cheaply. DII’s Temple and Shippensburg – which are based two hours from each other in Pennsylvania – won their respective Round of 16 matches against the South’s Lee University and Appalachian State. The quarterfinalists were frustrated that they had to play their Sunday match in Alabama.

While organizing brackets based on region versus seed generally worked out well for teams on the West Coast, the plans also posed some problems. DI’s Penn State, Army and Navy all convened in Princeton, N.J., for their playoffs. The former two are last year’s finalists, and Navy is Final Four caliber. Army and Navy played in a thriller of a match on Saturday, and the Midshipmen scored three consecutive tries to eliminate the reigning champion 25-20. West Point ended up forfeiting its consolation match on Sunday, which is another issue in and of itself.

Contrast the aforementioned teams’ experience and success at nationals with the teams that played in Columbus, Ohio. Women’s Cougar Rugby crushed Midwest teams Ohio State and Northern Iowa to advance to the semifinals, and had a much easier run to the Final Four.

In a larger sense, the seeding is brought into question. Army didn’t play their consolation match in part because that outcome wouldn’t have affected them directly (although it should); it affects the territory’s seeds for next year. RUGBYMag.com has said in previous years that current rankings and current season results should be used to help seed teams. This requires more judgment and opens the judgers to criticism, true, but no one in the game believes Army and Navy should have been playing in the opening round.

Every team deserves a look, even the top tier. While we can expect the Penn States and Stanfords to be good for a long time coming, there are no certainties. Virginia is an example in DI. Virginia defeated Brown in a double-overtime victory in last year’s national quarterfinals, but had to rebuild and is a very different team this year. Brown defeated Virginia 38-5 yesterday.

Division II would benefit even more from current rankings. While it’s difficult to compare teams across territorial lines at time, it’s not impossible. Consider American International College, which won the inaugural Rugby Northeast conference and received an automatic bid to nationals. AIC didn’t have to play through the Northeast Championship, and after their 52-12 loss to Vassar in the Round of 16, it’s evident that other teams were more qualified for that seed.

Coincidentally, those DII Northeast teams had a late-breaking opportunity to attend DII nationals. Days before the Round of 16 kicked off, Rutgers announced that it was forfeiting its bid. The players had been caught drinking at a men’s rugby game, and the university suspended the team until May – thereby ending its post-season before it began. Bowdoin, Rhode Island, Mary Washington, Delaware and Stony Brook were all contacted and declined for different reasons. Norwich – Rutgers’ first-round opponent – received a bye through the first round.

At the end of the day, a good collection of teams are advancing to the Final Four: Penn State, Women's Cougar Rugby, Stanford and Brown in DI; Washington State, Winona, Shippensburg and Norwich in DII. Some teams placate the difficult road to nationals with the mindset that they have to beat every team out there to be crowned champion, but it’s a fact that some teams had an easier road to Palo Alto. It’s only going to get more complicated as more conferences emerge and travel increases, but interested parties need to ensure that the right teams and the appropriate build-up lead up to the championships.

The Women's DII College National Championship contested two rounds of playoffs this weekend, and the points scored results are in.

Two players from eliminated teams lead the tally - Grand Valley's Kristine Smith and Vassar's O'Mara Taylor. Both wings handle the kicking duties for their respective teams but are also important try scorers. Smith has 28 points on four tries and four conversions, while Taylor ran in three tries and converted four against AIC on Saturday.

Washington State flyhalf Alexis Bonny led all try-scorers with five. She split her five-pointers between WSU's 103-0 win over Cal State Northridge and 34-7 victory over Wyoming.

WSU logged the most points of any team in the DII competition and really used their time to move the ball around the field. Twelve separate players contributed to the scorelines to lead all teams.

Norwich would've contested WSU for points scored if they had played on Saturday, but no team could respond in time to replace Rutgers, which forfeited their spot at nationals.

Norwich and Washington State will play their semifinal against each other, while Shippensburg and Winona duke out the other final berth. The latter two teams also did a good job of diversifying their attack, as Shippensburg added eight players to the scoring sheet, and Winona had seven.

With two rounds of the Women's DI College National Championship gone, Brown's Chelsea Garber leads all point scorers with 40 on four tries and 10 conversions. Brown posted two solid wins against North Carolina (62-5) and Virginia (38-10) to advance to the semifinals in Palo Alto, Calif., on May 10-11.

Women's Cougar Rugby (BYU) wing Rebekah Siebach led all try scorers with six. The USA 7s Eagle accounted for 30 of the 98 points scored against Ohio State and Northern Iowa. The Cougars move onto the Final Four to face Penn State.

The other two semifinalists - Penn State and Stanford - spread their points scoring around the pitch. During PSU's 20-5 win over Princeton and 36-0 victory over Navy, 10 Nittany Lions contributed to the scoreline. Flyhalf/fullback Sadie Anderson only played in Sunday's game against Navy and led her team with 11 points (T, 3C). During the Cardinal's triumphs over Chico State (45-12) and Cal (41-22), nine players crossed the tryline or split the posts. Stanford No. 8 Amelia Villines and wing Smriti Sridhar ran in three five-pointers each over the weekend.

North Carolina and Virginia had the fewest amount of players score points, but for different reasons. UNC only scored five points all weekend - a try against Brown - while Virginia had stellar performances come out of center Sharlyn Carter (3T) and scrumhalf Katherine Estep (T, 4C, P).

Player	Team	T	C	P	DG	Total
Chelsea Garber	Brown	4	10			40
Rebekah Siebach	Cougar Women's Rugby	6				30
Patricia Ekpo	Brown	4				20
Courtney Milon	Ohio State	4				20
Noorin Dorosti	UCLA	1	3	3		20
Jennifer Sever	Cal	2	3			16
Katherine Estep	Virginia	1	4	1		16
Samantha Wright	Cougar Women's Rugby	3				15
Star Monson	Cougar Women's Rugby	2	1	1		15
Amelia Villines	Stanford	3				15
Smriti Sridhar	Stanford	3				15
Sharlyn Carter	Virginia	3				15
Alyson Gleason	Stanford		7			14
Chelsie Hill	Cougar Women's Rugby		6			12
Sadie Anderson	Penn State	1	3			11
Julia Fortkort	Texas	1	3			11
Jessica Sexauer	Army	2				10
Emily Hsieh	Brown	2				10
Shakeela Faulkner	Brown	2				10
Vanessa Munoz	Brown	2				10
Laci Naomi Patiga	Cal	2				10
Kylie Hahn	Chico State	2				10
Emily Spangler	Colorado	2				10
Erin Overcash	Colorado	2				10
Keelia Harker	Cougar Women's Rugby	2				10
Mariah Hinton	Northern Iowa	2				10
Shannon Zweber	Northern Iowa	2				10
Mary Jo Reddy	Ohio State	2				10
Kasey Ferlic	Penn State	2				10
Katherine Lampert	Stanford	2				10
Olabisi Ibrahim	Stanford	2				10
Simone Lumsden	Texas	2				10
Wendy Sun	Texas	2				10
Lucia Tin	UCLA	2				10
Caitlin Martin	Ohio State		4			8
Anne Lee	Army	1	1			7
Megan Cruise	Colorado	1	1			7
Jamaica Osorio	Stanford	1	1			7
Dana Greenwood	Cougar Women's Rugby				2	6
Elisha Miles	Brown	1				5
Kaitlin East	Brown	1				5
Jennifer Costley	Cal	1				5
Mariah Castro	Cal	1				5
Maricel Quirindongo-Crespo	Cal	1				5
Mackenzie McManus	Chico State	1				5
Yesenia Angel	Chico State	1				5
Heidi Gruber	Colorado	1				5
Lindsay Wiebold	Colorado	1				5
Mia Pino	Colorado	1				5
Ela Wolfgramm	Cougar Women's Rugby	1				5
Kayla Richardson	Cougar Women's Rugby	1				5
Brooke Amoroso	Navy	1				5
Jane Paar	Navy	1				5
Julia Hardgrove	Navy	1				5
Kacey Liscomb	Navy	1				5
Sequoia Watson	Navy	1				5
Rebecca Brown	Northern Iowa	1				5
Talia Carrasquillo	Northern Iowa	1				5
Stephanie Bowers	Ohio State	1				5
Caitlin Prendergast	Penn State	1				5
Christiane Pheil	Penn State	1				5
Elena Cantorna	Penn State	1				5
Jackie Giordano	Penn State	1				5
Laura Lucas	Penn State	1				5
Lauren Poole	Penn State	1				5
Margaret Leonard	Penn State	1				5
Devan Kreisberg	Princeton	1				5
Caitlin Breen	Stanford	1				5
Maxine Fonua	Stanford	1				5
Michelle Teo	Stanford	1				5
Alejandra Reyes	Texas	1				5
Chelsie Weathington	Texas	1				5
Joy Adeku	Texas	1				5
Kiara Harris	Texas	1				5
Sierra Jenkins	Texas	1				5
Diana Nguyen	UCLA	1				5
Jordan Klein	UCLA	1				5
Lianne Pak	UCLA	1				5
Yukako Kawakatsu	UCLA	1				5
D'chante McKenzie	UNC - Chapel Hill	1				5
Brianna Kim	Virginia	1				5
Emily McCarthy	Army			1		3
Megan Foster	Chico State		1			2
Kathleen Shissler	Penn State		1			2
Penalty Try	Cal					5

		T	C	P	DG	Total
Chelsea Garber	Brown	4	10			40
Rebekah Siebach	Cougar Women's Rugby	6				30
Patricia Ekpo	Brown	4				20
Courtney Milon	Ohio State	4				20
Noorin Dorosti	UCLA	1	3	3		20
Jennifer Sever	Cal	2	3			16
Katherine Estep	Virginia	1	4	1		16
Samantha Wright	Cougar Women's Rugby	3				15
Star Monson	Cougar Women's Rugby	2	1	1		15
Amelia Villines	Stanford	3				15
Smriti Sridhar	Stanford	3				15
Sharlyn Carter	Virginia	3				15
Alyson Gleason	Stanford		7			14
Chelsie Hill	Cougar Women's Rugby		6			12
Sadie Anderson	Penn State	1	3			11
Julia Fortkort	Texas	1	3			11
Jessica Sexauer	Army	2				10
Emily Hsieh	Brown	2				10
Shakeela Faulkner	Brown	2				10
Vanessa Munoz	Brown	2				10
Laci Naomi Patiga	Cal	2				10
Kylie Hahn	Chico State	2				10
Emily Spangler	Colorado	2				10
Erin Overcash	Colorado	2				10
Keelia Harker	Cougar Women's Rugby	2				10
Mariah Hinton	Northern Iowa	2				10
Shannon Zweber	Northern Iowa	2				10
Mary Jo Reddy	Ohio State	2				10
Kasey Ferlic	Penn State	2				10
Katherine Lampert	Stanford	2				10
Olabisi Ibrahim	Stanford	2				10
Simone Lumsden	Texas	2				10
Wendy Sun	Texas	2				10
Lucia Tin	UCLA	2				10
Caitlin Martin	Ohio State		4			8
Anne Lee	Army	1	1			7
Megan Cruise	Colorado	1	1			7
Jamaica Osorio	Stanford	1	1			7
Dana Greenwood	Cougar Women's Rugby				2	6
Elisha Miles	Brown	1				5
Kaitlin East	Brown	1				5
Jennifer Costley	Cal	1				5
Mariah Castro	Cal	1				5
Maricel Quirindongo-Crespo	Cal	1				5
Mackenzie McManus	Chico State	1				5
Yesenia Angel	Chico State	1				5
Heidi Gruber	Colorado	1				5
Lindsay Wiebold	Colorado	1				5
Mia Pino	Colorado	1				5
Ela Wolfgramm	Cougar Women's Rugby	1				5
Kayla Richardson	Cougar Women's Rugby	1				5
Brooke Amoroso	Navy	1				5
Jane Paar	Navy	1				5
Julia Hardgrove	Navy	1				5
Kacey Liscomb	Navy	1				5
Sequoia Watson	Navy	1				5
Rebecca Brown	Northern Iowa	1				5
Talia Carrasquillo	Northern Iowa	1				5
Stephanie Bowers	Ohio State	1				5
Caitlin Prendergast	Penn State	1				5
Christiane Pheil	Penn State	1				5
Elena Cantorna	Penn State	1				5
Jackie Giordano	Penn State	1				5
Laura Lucas	Penn State	1				5
Lauren Poole	Penn State	1				5
Margaret Leonard	Penn State	1				5
Devan Kreisberg	Princeton	1				5
Caitlin Breen	Stanford	1				5
Maxine Fonua	Stanford	1				5
Michelle Teo	Stanford	1				5
Alejandra Reyes	Texas	1				5
Chelsie Weathington	Texas	1				5
Joy Adeku	Texas	1				5
Kiara Harris	Texas	1				5
Sierra Jenkins	Texas	1				5
Diana Nguyen	UCLA	1				5
Jordan Klein	UCLA	1				5
Lianne Pak	UCLA	1				5
Yukako Kawakatsu	UCLA	1				5
D'chante McKenzie	UNC - Chapel Hill	1				5
Brianna Kim	Virginia	1				5
Emily McCarthy	Army			1		3
Megan Foster	Chico State		1			2
Kathleen Shissler	Penn State		1			2
Penalty Try	Cal					0

With two rounds of the Women's DI College National Championship gone, Brown's Chelsea Garber leads all point scorers with 40 on four tries and 10 conversions. Brown posted two solid wins against North Carolina (62-5) and Virginia (38-10) to advance to the semifinals in Palo Alto, Calif., on May 10-11.

Women's Cougar Rugby (BYU) wing Rebekah Siebach led all try scorers with six. The USA 7s Eagle accounted for 30 of the 98 points scored against Ohio State and Northern Iowa. The Cougars move onto the Final Four to face Penn State.

The other two semifinalists - Penn State and Stanford - spread their points scoring around the pitch. During PSU's 20-5 win over Princeton and 36-0 victory over Navy, 10 Nittany Lions contributed to the scoreline. Flyhalf/fullback Sadie Anderson only played in Sunday's game against Navy and led her team with 11 points (T, 3C). During the Cardinal's triumphs over Chico State (45-12) and Cal (41-22), nine players crossed the tryline or split the posts. Stanford No. 8 Amelia Villines and wing Smriti Sridhar ran in three five-pointers each over the weekend.

North Carolina and Virginia had the fewest amount of players score points, but for different reasons. UNC only scored five points all weekend - a try against Brown - while Virginia had stellar performances come out of center Sharlyn Carter (3T) and scrumhalf Katherine Estep (T, 4C, P).

Well we’ll know something after this weekend.

All eyes in DI club rugby will be on Northern California and Utah, as four games help decide the final four teams in the Round of 32.

We're back with the RUGBYMag.com Girls HS rankings, with not much change at the top, as the best teams are still winning.

Its rugby playoff time for club teams on the Pacific Coast. Regular season champions have been crowned and the seeds have been set, so now it’s time to get down to business. For DII men’s clubs, the first stop is Portland, OR.

He doesn’t score all of Life’s tries. Cam Dolan actually leads the Running Eagles in tries this season, but Colton Cariaga is as important to Life’s attack as anyone. He’s been primarily playing inside center, and he draws a lot of attention from opposing defenses for his ability to create scoring opportunities for his teammates.

When Life and Arkansas State meet to decide the Mid-South Saturday in Jonesboro, Ark., There will be intriguing matchups all over the field which pit All Americans or potential All Americans against one another, like ASU No. 8 Shaun Potgieter lining up across from Dolan and ASU flyhalf Pat Sullivan across from Life’s Jake McFadden.

But much of the game could be decided by how Red Wolves outside center Zac Mizell handles the challenge of defending Cariaga.

“He plays a really wide style of 12, so 13 actually has to deal with him a lot," said Mizell of Cariaga. "I’ll probably be defending him the most, is the way it felt in the last game we played them. He came into my channel a lot.”

Mizell, like Cariaga, has played his fair share of flyhalf, but thanks to both teams being flush at No. 10, they have found work in the centers. Mizell is a taller, leaner player, while Cariaga is short and more compact, which could make for some interesting altercations in the midfield.

“Really, the challenge is he moves so well off the ball, so the whole time the ball’s in movement out of the ruck and out of the scrum, he’s working. He’s changing his angles, so my whole key for defending him is just watching him off the ball,” said Mizell.

“And you really have to focus on him as an individual player, which you try not to do in most situations, but with a guy like that that’s going to run such dangerous lines, you really have to watch him.”

Defense, and giving Life a long field to work with, has been the focus for the Red Wolves in training this week. They want to get into the faces of Cariaga et al and make them uncomfortable.

If Mizell and fellow center Dean Gericke can make their tackles against Cariaga and Life No. 13 Darrian Woodson, it will severely improve Arkansas State’s chances of drawing even with the Running Eagles this season.

RUGBYMag.com releases the latest single-school boys rankings, with a few fixes.

Alex Goff looks at what factors contributed to St. Mary's beating Cal.

We run down who is left in the DII club scene.\

This was actually a difficult ranking to finalize, as there are several questions to ponder:

Alex Goff looks at this week's Super League matchups.

Here are the latest Boys HS Club Rankings.

So Boca Raton won’t show for their Round of 32 playoff game against Palmer, is that any reason to question the very structure of D1 club rugby?

Well, kind of. It’s one of the same old problems, still un-addressed: How can you operate an amateur national club competition in a country of 3.8 million square miles?

Alex Goff checks in with Old Puget Sound Beach's coach and captain after their big win this past weekend.

Check out some of the stuff you're missing in RUGBY Magazine Digital, available to all Premier Members.

Here's a look at our Off the Clock feature, this month with Miles Craigwell.

Click here to read and see how the Digital Magazine operates (works on your personal computer, tablet or smart phone.)

USA Men’s 15s Head Coach Mike Tolkin will send invites out to about 30 players for his first domestic camp to be held at the end of May.

In that list will likely be a large number of capped players. Tolkin will also be looking at some players with less international experience.

The Denver Highlanders confirmed their 3^rd place spot in the West-North DI club league with a tight 24-22 decision over Boulder Saturday.

That was the good news for the Highlanders, but there’s more coming.

The USA 7s team is expected to name an 11th player as a contracted athlete in the Olympic program.

The USA 7s team, and their coach, took a week off to regroup after playing in the Hong Kong and Tokyo 7s.

We get to the point in the rankings when we're itching for an upset.

Even if such an upset confuses the issue.

It’s unlikely you will see too many changes in the USA 7s team going into the final two tournaments of the HSBC Sevens World Series.

USA Rugby is expected to decide on a Collegiate Director soon.