Small College Women (NSCRO) Aim for a Trip to Cherry Hill

from NSCRO.org:

NSCRO is very pleased that its 2013 Women’s Small College National Championship will once again be hosted by the Philadelphia Women’s RFC at the home field of the South Jersey RFC in Cherry Hill, NJ. It is scheduled for Nov. 23-24.

At this time, there are 69 women’s small colleges competing in 4 NSCRO Regions looking for the road to Cherry Hill. Both of the previous 2 Champions, Carleton College (Northfield, MN) in 2011 and Wayne State College (Wayne, NE) in 2012 are both looking for another shot at the title. Many strong teams are beginning their Fall season looking to be that team.

View the list of Eligible Clubs and Playoff Brackets.

NSCRO Services at National Championship – NSCRO has retained the services of former USA Eagle standout Ines Rodriguez and Matt Robinette to provide fans with free live web streaming coverage provided by the video production team from BC Productions and web streaming services from Ashe Productions and Ashley Cameron. In addition, Contrast Photography will be providing professional services to capture the highest quality photos of your players in action as well as team photos. Details about their services will be provided at a later date.

NSCRO Team and Player Recognition – NSCRO will be providing team trophies at the Regional Champions for the first and second place teams at 4-team playoff events (a winner’s trophy only is provided for a 2-team playoff match) along with an MVP trophy.
At the National Championships, team trophies will be awarded to all 4 teams. Player recognition will be as follows:

• Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals – top 3 finishers.
• Heart & Soul Award – a match ball will be presented to a player from each team (as selected by the team’s coaching staff) who best exemplifies the “heart and soul” of their team. The player’s teammates can sign the ball as a way of further recognizing the value of this player to the team.
• All-NSCRO XV – A Committee will evaluate players during the event and select the best player by position. Each player will receive both a trophy and a custom NSCRO shirt recognizing their accomplishment.
• Championship MVP Trophy

USA Rugby Small College Support – As part of the support from USA Rugby, we are expecting Martha Daines to be in attendance and the appointment of a National Panel referee. Martha is the Head Coach of the Women’s Collegiate All-American team and attended last year’s NSCRO Championship to evaluate the players. As a result of this and her interface with small colleges….6 small college players attended the WCAA Camps this summer. Two of the players – Leslie Ota (Fordham) and Katie Foss (Augustana) – are expected to be part of the WCAA team that will be playing in France later this year. In addition, USAR is providing financial support to NSCRO to help us to continue to make progress and expand NSCRO services.

NSCRO Regional Championships
The 4 Regional Champions will be determined as follows:

Region 1 – Northeast => 11 clubs : NERFU and NEWCRC
Nov 2-3 – NERFU (New England GU) will be hosting this Championship (1 match per day) featuring the Champions of the New England Wide Conference, NERFU’s North and South brackets and the North bracket runnerup. The Venue is TBD.

Region 2 – New England Empire => 18 clubs : Colonial Coast and Empire Upstate
Sunday Nov 10 – Regional Championship match between the Champions of the Colonial Coast Conference and the Empire GU Upstate Conference. The Venue is TBD.

Region 3 – Mid-Atlantic => 26 clubs : East Penn, Ohio, Tri-State and Capital (Virginia)
Nov. 9-10 – Regional Championship (1 match per day) expected to be held at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA featuring the Champions of the Capital GU (Virginia), East Penn RU, Ohio Conference and the Tri-State Conference.

NOTE: On Nov. 9, the USA Eagles play the New Zealand Maori All-Blacks at 7pm in PPL Park Stadium in Chester, PA (close to Philadelphia). To support this event, the Saturday semifinal KO times will allow teams to attend this match. The venue selected is close to PPL Park.

Region 4 – West => 14 clubs : Mid-America and Minnesota
Sunday Nov. 3 – Regional Championship match between the Champions of the Minnesota RFU and the newly-formed Mid-America GU at Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska.

For further information about NSCRO, go to www.NSCRO.org.

Yours in rugby,
Steve Cohen

NSCRO President