Rugby Northeast (RNE) celebrated its inaugural games this weekend, and the women’s bracket wasn’t without its surprises.

Perusing the RNE lineup of teams, a follower of women's DII rugby would probably only recognize Stonehill College among the lineup of small New England schools. Stonehill advanced to the semifinals of last year’s DII national championship and has been a regional powerhouse for years. But now that same fan should know American International College (AIC), which defeated Stonehill 32-5 in the teams’ league opener. Prior to that loss, Stonehill had not been defeated in regular season in years.

“We just are not that good at the moment,” Stonehill coach Derek Jenesky said. “We were beaten in every phase of the game, especially coaching. We were not prepared and that falls on me. They were a good, physical, mentally tough team who whipped us in front of a lot of our fans.”

Stonehill tried valiantly to turn the ball over, but AIC retained the majority of possession and favorable territory. The pack proved instrumental in the win and pushed over two of the six AIC tries.

Former Sacramento Amazons standout Adrianne Rubiaco led the backline and put Christina Gedeon and Bethany Montague into space for some rumbling runs through the defense. In the end, Jessica Davis led her side with three tries, Kim Shepherd logged two, and Sakina Feurtado tacked on an additional five-pointer. Maggie Pratt handled the extras.

“Two league losses would most likely mean the championship game is out of reach, so every game from here on out is a playoff game,” Jenesky said. “In that regards it is exciting for us. We have played ourselves into a corner but I am confident we will rally as a team and be in the championship hunt in the end. Our post season starts next week at Merrimack.”

In other news, St. Michael’s College put up 61 points to Merrimack’s 7. Lyndsey Moore, Deidre McNamare, Juliette Gaudier-Jabaut each scored three tries apiece for St. Michael’s, and all three are tied for second place on the points scored leader board.

Providence College downed UMass Lowell 29-22 in a thrilling match.