West Chester Heads To NIRA Tier II Championship Sunday; Game Can Be Seen On ESPN+

WEST CHESTER, Pa. - The undefeated West Chester University Golden Rams women's rugby squad will compete in the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) Tier II Championship for the first time in program history on Sunday, Nov. 17 at Roberto A. Mignone Field on the campus of Harvard University in Boston, Mass., at 12:00 p.m.
 
Additional information regarding the match can be found here. The match will also be broadcasted on ESPN+ for those not attending.
 
West Chester (10-0, 7-0 NIRA) will face off against Brown University (7-3, 6-1). The Golden Rams are coming off a 32-19 victory over Mount St. Mary's on Saturday. Freshman Heather Spangler (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg) scored two tries while her sister, Haley Spangler (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg) scored one to lead West Chester over The Mount.
 
Brown, meanwhile, is coming off of a 23-15 battle against Queens (N.C.) on Saturday. Mahdia Parker scored the game-winning try for the Bears and has now scored a try in five consecutive matches.
 
The Golden Rams opened up their season with a 25-14 victory against the Bears on Sept. 7.  Autumn Czaplicki (Pillow, Pa./Line Mountain) scored two tries that day to lead the Golden Rams' offense. Harley Divine (Alexandria, Va./West Potomac), Lauren Madalian (Randolph, N. J./Randolph), and Grace Larko (Vadergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) each scored a try as well on the day.
 
West Chester has outscored its opponents, 343-140, this season and has been led offensively by sophomores Czaplicki and Kylie Corless (Wrightstown, Pa./Archbishop Wood). Czaplicki is the team's scoring leader with 21 tries this season, while Corless has become the team's conversion specialist, tallying 21 of the team's 24 conversions. 

Sunday marks the team's first championship opportunity since the league split into three tiers. The growing league is in its second season with the tiered format. West Chester did play one other NIRA playoff match back in the fall of 2016 when all the schools in the league were lumped together into one division.
 
Despite the Golden Rams' initial appearance in the Tier II playoffs, the program is very familiar with the postseason in general. West Chester won three consecutive Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union (EPRU) titles from 2006 to 2008. The Rams dropped the 2009 EPRU final, which halted a personal four-match playoff winning streak. WCU went on to reach the EPRU finals in both 2010 and 2011, but lost each year to a very powerful Penn State squad.
 
From 2012 to 2014, West Chester competed in the Mason-Dixon Tournament, which was held in the spring. The Golden Rams reached the championship game each year, winning titles back-to-back in 2013 and 2014. West Chester also qualified for USA Rugby Nationals in those same three seasons, going 4-4 in the process.
 
Throughout the 16-year stint as a varsity women's rugby program, West Chester shows an overall postseason record of 17-10 with three EPRU titles and a pair of Mason-Dixon titles to its credit. In fall postseason matches, the Golden Rams are 6-5 with the three EPRU triumphs to their credit.
 
Head coach Tony DeRemer has been at the helm for all 17 of those wins and all five of those tournament championships. They all add up to an overall career 137-75-3 record. Along the way, he has suffered just one losing season, missed the playoffs only twice and just completed the school's first unbeaten regular season. Sunday's game represents a chance to earn his sixth tournament victory, and the program's first NIRA Tier II title.