WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester University women's rugby team is preparing for its final Tournament of the 2025-26 campaign as the Golden Rams head to the Collegiate Rugby 7s Championships (CRC's) at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds, Maryland, once again this week to battle for a CRC Championship. West Chester will open its campaign as the fourth seed in the West Region of the Women's Premier Cup and will face Wheeling in a first-round matchup on Saturday morning at 9:20 a.m. The full bracket is available
here.
West Chester returns to the CRC's for the third year in a row after finishing seventh in its first appearance in 2024 and ninth in 2025 after defeating Southern Nazarene and Mount St. Mary's on Sunday to win the Bowl Championship.
All matches will be streamed on
NCR TV, which offers a $19.99 weekend pass that allows fans to watch all Championship matches this weekend. For fans attending the Championships, tickets are available via this link, starting at $48.28. Additional fan information is available
here.
"We've got a great group of parents, friends, and family that are always traveling with us to games and Tournaments but it is certainly a bonus to have the National Championships so close to home," opened head coach
Tony DeRemer.
No strangers to postseason play, DeRemer and the Golden Rams have been fixtures in the postseason throughout the years, including three appearances in the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association 15s Championship game in November 2019, 2021, and 2025, along with Semifinal appearances in each of the other three falls. West Chester is also making its third trip to the CRC's and fifth consecutive Rugby 7s Championship appearance after competing in the USA Rugby 7's Championships in 2022 and 2023.
"Tournament experience is huge for this group in that we have 10 of our 15 rostered players back from the Tournament team last year. Playing on this stage and in front of the type of crowd we will see on Saturday certainly helps relieve some of the stress they will encounter in a larger venue, but they will also be better accustomed to the pace and intensity of these Championship events. All of our captains are going to CRC's for the third time this year, and two of them are seniors (
Sofia Lasonio and
Alyssa Miller, along with junior
Emma Davies), so they are going to be instrumental in leading the team this weekend."
West Chester heads into the Championships after a strong regular season, which included a 3-3-1 effort at the WCU 7s Tournament in late March and a 2-1 effort at the Frostburg 7s Tournament last weekend in the regular-season finale. At Frostburg State last weekend, West Chester posted wins over Mount St. Mary's and Frostburg State around a hard-fought loss to Navy.
"The development we've seen over the last few weeks has been impressive," acknowledged DeRemer. "Early on with multiple Tournaments right out of the gate, we weren't as healthy as we would have liked to have been and probably weren't totally in sync, but with the last three weeks we've had time to get healthy and work hard, and I think we are in the best place we've been all season heading into this weekend."
Against Mount St. Mary's,
Christelle Adikpeto (Abomey Calavi, Benin/Moon Area) and
Sofia Lasonio (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) opened the scoring for West Chester before
Laura Smego (Greenwich, Ct./Greenwich) added a final try late in the second half to secure a 19-14 win for the Golden Rams.
Against Navy, Adikepto and
Alyssa Miller (Philadelphia, Pa./Girard Academic Music Program) scored early, and
Emma Davies (Kennett Square, Pa./Kennett) tallied two of her five conversions, but Navy roared back in the second half to earn a 22-14 comeback victory over West Chester.
In the final game of the afternoon against Frostburg State, Davies and
Bridget Kowalski (Chester Springs, Pa./Owen J. Roberts) got the scoring started, but Frostburg State answered back and was hopeful to steal a victory over the visiting Golden Rams. Lasonio scored a late try to thwart the comeback bid, and Davies made the conversion as West Chester held on for a 17-12 victory.
West Chester will open its campaign in the Stadium against Wheeling, beginning at 9:20 a.m., and, with a win, would face the winner of the Brown/UConn match, which is being played in the Stadium at 9 a.m.
"Wheeling is going to be a great matchup for us to start the weekend," said DeRemer. "They are a big, strong, well-drilled group that won a 15s Championship in 2024 and nearly again in 2025. They are no stranger to postseason play, so we will have to be at our best to beat them. They are a very physical team, so we will need to use our speed to beat them and not let their aggressive style of play affect us."
The potential matchup with the winner of Brown/UConn would serve as a Premier Cup Quarterfinal and be played at 2:40 on Saturday afternoon, with the semifinals on Sunday morning, beginning at 11 a.m. A potential matchup with Brown could also pit sisters against each other, as Charlotte Davies, the younger sister of junior captain
Emma Davies, is a starting freshman for three-time Champion Brown.
When asked about a final message to the team ahead of the first match on Saturday morning, DeRemer said, "Bring the great work we've been doing in practice to the field and keep our work rate up. We've been working hard and are in a good position for this weekend if we can translate all of our practice frames into the weekend. Also, have fun, enjoy the moment, and don't put too much pressure on yourselves," concluded DeRemer.
