The second NSCRO National 7s Championship was held in conjunction with the USA Sevens CRC 7s event at PPL Park in Chester, PA this past weekend and was a great success!
Led by the combination of NSCRO's 2013 Player of the Year, Jay Muniz and the multi-talented Anthony MacQueston, New England College (NEC) found out that the ol' New Hampshire saying of "4th time is the charm" is really true...with their victory over New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) in the final of the 2014 NSCRO National 7s Championship 22 to 14.
Take the jump to read more.
55 of the overall 215 NSCRO Men’s teams competed in 8 regional qualifiers in order to play in the NSCRO 7s Championship. The 8 participating teams, who qualified for Nationals based on the results of 8 NSCRO Qualifying Tournaments held throughout the country, looked well prepared and ready to play. They represented their schools and small college rugby very well both on and off the field.
Pool A:
University of Richmond (UR), Richmond, VA
Sonoma State University (SSU), Rohnert Park, CA
Susquehanna University (SU), Selinsgrove, PA
Valdosta State University (VSU), Valdosta, GA
Pool B:
Lafayette College (LC), Easton, PA
New England College (NEC), Henniker, NH
New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU), Las Vegas, NM
University of North Florida (UNF), Jacksonville, FL
The first semifinal saw Pool B winner New Mexico Highlands handle Pool A runner-up Richmond 31-0. In the 2nd semifinal Pool B runner-up New England College defeated Pool A winner Valdosta State 36-7. A 'tip of the hat' goes to Valdosta State whose club is just 3 years old. In their first year in NSCRO league play, they qualified for both the 15s and 7s national playoffs.
About New England College, Henniker, NH
In 2013, NEC finished 3rd in NSCRO 15s and was a semifinalist in NSCRO 7s. This year, they lost a close match to St. John's University in the NSCRO 15s final. So this was their 4th time in an NSCRO "final 4" in 2 consecutive years....and now they have finally reached the pinnacle of success. If you are not familiar with NEC Lions Rugby...their program was defunct for a long time until Jeremy Treece convinced the school to re-start the program in 2011. In their initial year...they played "friendlies" are they organized their structure. In their first season of league play in the New England RFU was Fall 2012, they went undefeated and then won the NSCRO Northeast Region Championship. Their accomplishments in their short 2-year history are quite remarkable. Oh...also factor in that they have just 500 full time undergraduate male students!
About New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, NM (that's right, not Nevada)
NMHU although founded in 1992 by Dick Greene was just admitted to the Eastern Rockies Union "Frontier" NSCRO league last Fall to give them their first real opportunity to compete as a collegiate club against similar small colleges. NMHU has less than 500 male undergraduates enrolled. They finished 2nd in the Frontier league and then 3rd in the NSCRO Cowboy Cup in March and wound up ranked #13 in NSCRO 15s (out of 215 clubs)....a remarkable accomplishment for sure.
All 4 teams that played on Sunday were provided with NSCRO team trophies and gift certificates courtesy of World Rugby Shop. In addition, gold player medals were provided to NEC and silver medals to NMHU, along with the MVP trophy to NEC's Anthony MacQueston.
NSCRO provided free live web streaming of all of its 15 matches via www.LiveSportsVideo.com. Over 1,000 connections were on line over both days allowing thousands of fans worldwide to watch the action. A DVD of all 15 NSCRO Championship event matches is available for purchase. The DVD Order Form is available on the NSCRO website. Please submit order by June 27.
NSCRO thanks Brad Kilpatrick and World Rugby Shop for their continued support of NSCRO. World Rugby Shop is proud to be the official online retailer of the National Small College Rugby Organization. Visit WorldRugbyShop.com today for all of your team wear, replica, and player gear needs. If you support Small College Rugby – then show it with NSCRO apparel found at www.worldrugbyshop.com/NSCRO. A portion of each sales purchase goes to NSCRO and supports small college rugby.
NSCRO thanks United World Sports for bringing the NSCRO 7s to the CRCs and especially Steve Albrecht and Donal Walsh for their support of small college rugby.
NSCRO thanks Neumann University (Aston, PA) and their staff for hosting the NSCRO 7s Pool Play at their excellent facility.
NSCRO thanks PPL Park and its staff for providing an outstanding venue for our semifinals and final.
NSCRO thanks all of the match officials - referees and ARs - for their work.
NSCRO thanks Todd Bauders and Andy Lewis of Contrast Photography for capturing the live action and team photos.
NSCRO thanks Jeff Ashe and Ashley Cameron for the live web streaming coverage and Matt Robinette for the match commentary.
NSCRO thanks its recently appointed Social Media Coordinator, Brian Wells, for his support in bringing NSCRO into the "new world" of social interaction through Facebook and Twitter. If you haven't done so already....
LIKE NSCRO on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/NSCRORugby
Follow us on Twitter at @NSCRORugby
The NSCRO 7s Championship was well-organized and managed by Howard Kent, long-time organizer of the Denver 7s Tournament.
With 2 years of successful 7s complete, NSCRO looks forward to preparing for the 2015 National Small College Rugby 7s Championship.