Top D-I teams clash at Presidents' Day Invite, while new D-III teams took the field at Commonwealth Cup Weekend 1
February 22, 2024 by Grace Conerly in News, Preview, Recap with 0 comments
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Throughout the spring season, we’ll publishing a bite-sized weekly recap of the action across the college division. This will serve as a supplement to our standard tournament reporting and offer a high-level look at the latest happenings and the biggest stories of the week.
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D-I Women’s Division
The major action this weekend was out west, where three of the top four seeds soared at Presidents’ Day Invite. The back-to-back national runners up, however, were not among them.
Presidents’ Day Invite
#6 Oregon Fugue continued to establish themselves as a team to beat in the West with a win at Presidents’ Day Invite over #7 Stanford Superfly. In a back and forth final, Fugue bested Stanford 10-9. #10 UC Santa Barbara Burning Skirts and unranked UC San Diego Dragon Coalition rounded out the semis field. #5 Colorado Quandary fell short of expectations in their first outing of the year, losing to both Oregon and UCSB to drop to the fifth-place bracket. Read all of our Day One, Day Two, and Day Three coverage while you wait for the recap later this week.
Elsewhere in the Division
- Somewhat confusingly, Santa Clara University also hosted a tournament called Presidents’ Day. At this one, San Diego State Gnomes defeated hosts Santa Clara RAGE in the final 9-8 after losing to them 6-5 in pool play.
- In the final of Dust Bowl, #16 UT Dallas Whiplash beat Missouri Terror Mizzou 12-7 to claim the title and continue the winning ways that started for them in 2023.
- Over on the East Coast at Commonwealth Cup Weekend 1 in a low-scoring battle of badass team names, Georgetown Huckin’ Foyas beat American Dirty Ladies 6-5 to take the tournament title, with high school team Triangle Tourists taking third.
- Despite Texas-named teams outnumbering non-Texans seven to two, none could break through the D-III stronghold to make it to the Antifreeze final, with Texas A&M coming the closest in third place.
Looking Ahead
Commonwealth Cup Weekend 2 is coming up this weekend in Axton, Virginia. #8 Tufts EWO will be the heavy favorites to take home the title. #17 Pittsburgh Danger and #20 Michigan Flywheel are close on their heels and are eager to solidify themselves as top 20 teams. Elsewhere, Bring the Huckus, Mardi Gras XXXVI, the PLU Women’s BBQ, and The Only Tenn I See Memorial Tournament will feature strong regional teams.
D-I Men’s Division
A continued undefeated spring campaign, a strong debut from a contender, and a splashy entrance into the Nationals conversation were all on the menu out west as several ranked teams duked it out in San Diego.
Presidents’ Day Invite
#2 Cal Poly SLOCORE continued their impressive undefeated season with a 15-11 win over #7 Colorado Mamabird. While their final was 15-11, SLO’s closest game was an 11-10 squeaker against #22 Utah State Scotsmen in pool play. Outside of the loss the in the final, Mamabird were dominant. And both #9 Oregon Ego and the unranked Oregon State Beavers had strong weekends to reach the semifinals. While you wait for the tournament recap to drop, see if you agree with our very own Alex Rubin’s humble suggestions for every team in the PresDay field.
Elsewhere in the Division
- Commonwealth Cup Weekend 1 saw Maryland Space Bastards defeat Davidson DUFF 10-7 in the final. The 6-0 start gives Maryland some momentum heading into this weekend’s Eastern Qualifier.
- On the men’s side of Tulsa’s annual Dust Bowl, Oklahoma Christian Eagles beat UT Dallas WOOF by a final score of 12-8 to score some bragging rights for the People’s Division. In the rankings, however, they lost projected points, falling behind Williams to second in the D-III men’s division.
Looking Ahead
The major action this upcoming weekend will occur at the Easterns Qualifier, where #18 Penn State Spank headline a 24-team (!) field vying for a precious spot at the vaunted late-spring tournament Easterns. Stay tuned for coverage details, and don’t sleep on the regional action at Mardi Gras XXXVI, Bring the Huckus, Joint Summit, Palouse Open, Florida Warm Up Weekend 2, and Monument Melee.
D-III Women’s Division
#19 Claremont Greenshirts competed at Presidents’ Day Invite where they notched a nice 9-6 win over Denver. #17 Occidental WAC represented the D-III division at Santa Clara President’s Day, where they went 2-4.
At Commonwealth Cup Weekend 1, featuring a mash-up of D-I and D-III teams, #20 Catholic Nun Betta went 3-3, while Davenport went 4-2 in their first sanctioned showing, notably beating Catholic in pool play and tournament one seed Tennessee in consolation. Richmond managed to knock Davenport off on universe in quarters and did the same to the OV’s Cedarville in pool play.
In the final of AntiFreeze, #18 Rice Torque took down #16 Trinity Altitude 8-7 to finish an undefeated weekend. Given that Rice also beat Trinity by just one goal during the group stage, it’s clear these two teams are tightly matched.
Over in Tulsa at the Dust Bowl, John Brown Skyfall bookended their weekend with wins over state schools while Truman State TSUnami scored a one-goal win over Saint Louis.
Looking Ahead
We finally get some action out of the Ohio Valley, with #9 Haverford/Bryn Mawr Sneetches and #15 Lehigh Gravity set to face each other in the last round of pool play at Bring the Huckus in D-III destination city Vineland, New Jersey. They’ll get some connectivity with the Metro East in Rochester and Skidmore, and we’ll see if Dartmouth can rebound from a disappointing 2023 Regionals and fight for a spot among the bid-rich New England.
#3 Portland UPRoar headline the PLU Women’s BBQ, where they’ll face fellow D-III Northwest teams Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran. UPRoar and Clearcut clashed at D-III Grand Prix, with Portland cruising to an 8-4 win, but the round-robin format will provide our first look at the 2024 iteration of the Reign Women.
Trinity looks to rebound from last week’s close losses at Mardi Gras XXXVI against a slate of six D-I teams in Baton Rouge, and the #12 Union Jillz will also be the lone D-III representative at The Only Tenn I See Memorial Tournament. If they can back up their number two seed and make the bracket, they’ll have a chance to avenge a 1-1 split with Alabama-Huntsville from back at Huckfest where the L came by one in the final.
D-III Men’s Division
At Commonwealth Cup Weekend 1, three D-III teams made it to the semifinals in #14 Elon Big Fat Bomb, Davidson DUFF and Cedarville Swarm. Davidson DUFF put up a strong performance, squeaking past Cedarville 10-9 to make finals against Maryland where they lost 10-7. #24 Davenport also had a strong first outing, rising above their 13 seed to make quarters where they lost by one to Cedarville. The Panthers ultimately went 2-4, ending with a loss in the seventh place game to the Messiah Falcons.
Dust Bowl featured #5 Oklahoma Christian, who won the title with a 12-8 victory over UT Dallas. Fellow top 25 teams #7 Missouri S&T Miner Threat (4-2) and #25 Truman State JujiTSU (4-2) also attended, with Truman state winning the head-to-head matchup in consolation. That win pitted JujiTSU against Harding Apocalypse, potentially portending a shakeup in the South Central.
Looking Ahead
Trinity Turbulence and Spring Hill make the trek to Baton Rouge for Mardi Gras XXXVI, while in the opposite corner of the country Whitworth Bangarang are the sole D-III reps at Palouse Open.
D-I and D-III intertwine at Bring the Huckus. While no top 25 teams are in attendance, we’ll get some connectivity between the Ohio Valley (Haverford, Dickinson, and Swarthmore) and Metro East (SUNY-Geneseo, Army, Skidmore, Stevens Tech), with Colby bravely representing New England, which might have some rippling strength bid impacts.
Ave Maria Gyrenes recently fell out of our Power Rankings but could bounce back with a strong showing at Florida Warm Up Weekend 2. They’ll have to get through fellow D-III Southeast team Embry-Riddle Dirty Birds, while regionmates Florida Tech F-IT and Florida Polytechnic will have their own match play showdown.
