April 30, 2007
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
The top four Men's and Women's rugby teams will come to Stanford when the Cardinal host the USA Rugby Collegiate National Championships at the Steuber Rugby Stadium May 4th and 5th. The tournament will begin with the two women's semifinal matchups on Friday morning and will continue with the men's semifinals in the afternoon. The winners will play on Saturday along with the two championship games in the Division II Tournament.
MATCH SCHEDULE
Friday, May 4th
11:00 AM: Division I Women's Semi Final--Stanford vs. UC-Davis
1:00 PM: Division I Women's Semi Final --- Penn State vs. New Mexico
3:00 PM: Division I Men's Semi Final --- California vs. U.S. Naval Academy
5:00 PM: Division I Men's Semi Final --- Penn State University vs. Brigham Young
Saturday, May 5th
11:00 AM: Division II Women's Championship
1:00 PM: Division II Men's Championship
3:00 PM: Division I Women's Championship
5:00 PM: Division I Men's Championship
MEN'S SEMIFINALS
In the first men's semifinal, perennial power California will take on the U.S. Naval Academy. California beat the University of New Mexico and San Diego State by a combined score of 129-3 in last weekend's games. The Golden Bears will look to win the national championship for the 23rd time in the past 27 seasons. In the way is the Naval Academy who defeated No. 13 seed Clemson and upstart St. Mary's College last weekend to earn a berth in the semifinals.
In the other semifinal, Penn State University advanced to reach its third Collegiate National Championships appearance in a row. The Nittany Lions will face off against a BYU team that defeated them in the 2006 Championships by the score of 52-3. BYU also only lost to California by three points in last season's national championship.
WOMEN'S SEMIFINALS
On the women's side, Top-ranked Stanford faces upstart UC-Davis in the first semifinal match. UC-Davis, the No. 12 seed defeated No. 5 seed University of Virginia and No. 4 seed Northern Iowa to reach the Collegiate National Championships. Stanford defeated West Chester University last weekend to earn a berth in the semifinal.
Penn State's women's team also makes the trip to Stanford when they face New Mexico in the other women's semifinal. Penn State defeated Ohio State University and Army to advance to this weekend's semifinal. Facing the Nittany Lions is New Mexico, who wasn't apart of the 2006 Collegiate National Championships. New Mexico defeated UCSB and No. 3 Navy last weekend to earn a matchup with Penn State.
TICKET INFO
Tickets for the event are $10 for adults and $5 for Youth or Student's with student ID cards. The ticket office at Steuber Rugby Stadium will sell tickets on game day.