WEST CHESTER, Pa. - Fresh off its first appearance in the USA Rugby Women's Collegiate Division I national semifinals last April, West Chester University's women's rugby squad was ranked seventh in the country by the Rugby Report in its preseason publication. It marks the first time in school history that the Golden Rams have appeared in the Top 10 of Division I schools.
West Chester went 13-5 last season and reached the national semifinals for the first time in school history, bowing to eventual national champion Penn State in the semifinals, before falling to American International College in the consolation match two days later. Head coach Tony Deremer returns a very strong and very experienced nucleus from that team, including leading scorer Nicole Benedetti. She set a school record for points in a single season in 2013-14 with 145.
Below is a list of the Top 20 programs in the Rugby Report.
CLICK HERE for the Rugby Report's preseason preview of West Chester University's women's rugby squad.
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Women's DI College Top 20 - August 25, 2014
1. Penn State - Reigning USA Rugby champion; lots of talent in all classes
2. Norwich - Reigning ACRA 15s/7s champion and USA Rugby 7s champion
3. Stanford - Lost to Penn State 38-0 in DI final; solid returners in WJAA Nikki Richardson and high scorers Sara Maurer, Australia's Maddie Wilson, and young scrumhalf Esther Melton; will miss Aly Gleason and Maxine Fonua
4. Brigham Young (BYU) - Lost to Stanford 26-17 in DI quarterfinals; Canada's Jordan Gray is a terror.
5. American International College (AIC) - Lost to Stanford 29-15 in DI semifinals; good young talent still coming in but curious how coaching change will affect success
6. Army - Lost 32-15 to Norwich in ACRA final; lost important players to graduation but still has Liz McCracken, Mel Thom and high scorer Kate Roose as a backbone
7. West Chester - Finished 4th in USA Rugby, losing 37-31 to AIC; returning majority of squad, including Nicole Benedetti, Ariel Gantt and WJAAs Lizzy Groff and Adriana Zeiders
8. Indiana - Early bow-out from USA Rugby nationals, losing 25-17 to AIC in Round of 16
9. Northern Iowa - Defeated Navy to finish third at ACRA championship
10. Navy - Finished 4th in ACRA; lost Erika Pedersen, Katie Smith, Karissa Kleinschmidt and Juliann Hitt - all tough to replace
11. Quinnipiac - Good, new players to complement the resident talent; a tough, packed schedule should help the team into that next league of competitiveness
12. New Mexico - The second-best team in Pacific Mountain Conference's East division rotates, and UNM produced a shock, early-season win over BYU that resonated throughout the season. After beating Central Florida by 21 points, UNM fell 48-14 to West Chester in the DI quarterfinals.
13. California - Lost 59-0 in the Round of 16 but have veterans like Lauren Butler, Genevieve Ireland and Stacy Wong, and WJAAs Abby Vogel and CJ Whiteside to build more success
14. Harvard - Peaked at the right time to win the Ivy League Championship but couldn't get past the first round of DI playoffs. WJAA and Junior Olympian Haley Langan will be an excellent addition.
15. North Carolina - The Tarheels did beat Harvard by 14 points last year, but UNC takes it easy through the fall before starting its matrix season in the new year. That's when UNC will make its gains up the rankings.
16. Central Florida - UCF has been the second-strongest team in the South (behind UNC) for a long time, and with a bunch of new talent coming in, it looks to the same this league season.
17. Brown - The varsity team actually finished third in the Ivy League last year but played Harvard than second place Dartmouth.
18. James Madison - JMU is known better on the 7s circuit, having finished second to Norwich in last year's USA Rugby 7s championship, but the 15s program is getting better with every season.
19. Dartmouth - Finished 2nd to Harvard in last year's Ivy League
20. Washington State - Moved to DI last year and immediately became the strongest team in the PMC North; don't forget about Anne Peterson pulling the strings from flyhalf and Sam Pederson's speed on the outside.
