(Photo: Detroit enjoyed the biggest of the win of the weekend.)

During the course of a weekend, there are usually one or two close games that warrant a play-by-play write-up. But for the women’s DI clubs, the closest game that occurred this weekend was a 31-7 win for Tempe over Nor Cal Triple Threat.

In CR1, only two matches were held. ORSU improved to 3-0 with a 43-5 win over San Francisco Fog and represents the only undefeated side in the region. They were fortunate to have this week’s game played at home, as the Women’s National Team camp meant Sharon Blaney and San Juanita Moreno were absent from the lineup.

“We were missing a lot of starters – seven, I believe – but thanks to our deep bench, we were still able to field a strong side," ORSU player/coach Beckett Royce said. "The Fog played hard and had some really good tacklers. We were able to dominate possession, though, and our sustained attack took a toll on them.”

The Fog have played some very competitive games against top teams like Seattle (12-7) and Belmont Shore (15-0), but the team’s still looking for their first win of the season. Their best shot for a victory will come during the final week of regulation against Tempe.

However the Arizona side got a nice boost during their 31-7 win over visiting Nor Cal Triple Threat. Nor Cal was favored on paper, but a handful of circumstances leveled playing field. For one, two of the team’s strongest players - Lisa Butts and Naima Reddick – were in Colorado Springs with the Eagles. And the California team was also missing two key starters to injuries, as well as coach Alex Triantafyllou, who was unable to make the road trip.

“It was a hot [104 degree] game played in the heat of the day,” Tempe’s Anastasia Jones said. “Having the home-field advantage and more acclimation to the heat worked in our favor. They played well and fought hard, although we were able to capitalize on key opportunities and shut down their defense.”

The Eagles camp took Jenny Lui and Kate Daley out of the North Shore lineup, but their absence didn’t play as big of a role in Saturday’s game as did Black Ice’s roster. The Denver side wasn’t able to assemble an ideal team – a product of having to buy flights for three of their first four league games in less than a month. The reigning DI champs cruised to an easy 67-0 win.

Detroit didn’t have any problems on the road and also enjoyed a blowout victory – 87-0 over the Minnesota Valkyries.

In CR3, the home teams NOVA and Philadelphia put in impressive wins against the Village Lions and Albany, respectively, while Atlanta posted a 57-5 victory on the road against Providence. 

With Boston enjoying a bye week, Atlanta was able to catch up on games-played and effectively took over first place in the region with this Saturday’s win.

But Providence put up a good fight in the first half. The home side got up 12-0 early on before the Rhode Island squad got on the board. Heather Hale slotted to penalties late in the first half for the 18-5 lead into the break.

“In the second half, we managed to retain a lot more of our possession, get some decent phases working and points on the board,” Atlanta coach Jason Payne said. “Providence is a good team. They run some nice, quick phases, runners hit the line hard, and they contested the ball well on defense.”

In the end, Kari Morrison, Tia Blosser and Rosalind Chow each scored a brace of tries, and Keta Sutton, Lauren Waltz and Amonae Dabbs-Brown added five-pointers. Hale handled all the kicking duties.

“From our end, we made seven changes to the starting 15 from the Philly match last week,” Payne said. “We were happy with the progress overall, especially with the continuity of the second half and defensive pressure this weekend.”

Payne was particularly pleased with forward Brianna Osetinsky, a new player from Seattle, and Chow in the backs.

“With Boston this weekend and NOVA next weekend, the games aren't getting any easier,” Payne said. “So we know we've got a big week ahead on the training field, and a big match this Saturday.”

NOVA was in control of their big win over the Village Lions, running out to a 24-7 halftime lead and more than doubling the effort in the second half.

Wing Erica Cavanaugh led the squad with a hat trick, while Lauren Hoeck dotted down two and dropkicked three conversions. Stephanie Barros, Amber Benlian, Mo McQueen, Josie Ziluca and Amy Kingsbury also added tries. Rachel Primo slotted four conversions.

NOVA worked their bench liberally in the second half, and coach Brian Walker was pleased with the performances he got out of rookie prop Britt Bruder and Providence transfers Adrienne and Jen Farfalla, who played lock and flanker, respectively.

“I'm very happy with the result today, but we're a self critical team,” Walker said. “We're working hard at practice; we don't take anything for granted, and we have work to do. We've worked hard to improve our defense after giving up a lot of points in the first two games and we're happy we cut the number of points down today, but we still have room to improve.”

WOMEN DI CLUB STANDINGS