Women’s Division 1 – October 2025 Recap

With October coming to a close, it is yet again time for another USA Club Rugby Monthly Recap where we cover all of the goings-on from this past month in the USA Club Rugby scene. It’s a spicy time of the year for some regions who have completed their regular season this month and are entering playoffs. Other regions have just kicked off, while even more have just finalized schedules for the spring season. And we’re covering it all right here. As always, recaps are organized by division, so take a seat as we dive into what happened in the Women’s D1 Competition this past October!

Before I forget, all of this information is gathered from team-entered data on Rugby Xplorer. If you see something wrong, please check first on Rugby Xplorer and talk to your Geographic Union; if it’s right on RugbyX but wrong here, I could have just made a mistake. Unfortunately, I too am a human. I am always open to hearing comments and suggestions, so don’t be afraid to reach out. Any additional commentary is added for fun from someone who has zero standing in the outcomes of these games. Sounds good? Let’s get started.

Our Midwest Women’s D1 teams have finished out their regular seasons and have the final seeding as they head into the Midwest semifinals, kicking off in November!

In the Western Conference, we last left off with an undefeated Metropolis Valkyries (5-1) leading the way. They kept that streak up until October 18th when they traveled to Chicago North Shore (5-1) who laid down the hammer with a six-try performance that led to their 38-14 victory. Now here’s where it gets interesting; both teams are tied with a 5-1 record. Both teams have maximum bonus points in all five wins, and neither got a bonus point in their loss. The Valkyries defeated North Shore 29-5 and North Shore defeated the Valkyries 38-14. This means that the difference between their two results are also even; they both won by 24 points. So then it should fall to either total point differential or tries head to head (which would also be the same). Therefore I think Chicago North Shore is technically the top seed in the Western conference, but don’t take what I write here as gospel. Either way, Chicago North Shore and the Metropolis Valkyries are both heading to the semifinals. 

The Twin Cities Amazons (2-4) finished their season with a pair of wins over the Chicago Lions (0-6), the last one being a pretty close match. Emma Hamilton opened the scoring for the Amazons at minute 5. Nicky Edgcomb put one up for the Lions about 15 minutes later, followed by her teammate Mary Harrison; Mireille Barry converting. Now the Lions had the lead 12-5. Brooke Doerscher dove over for the Amazons, then Anabel Diaz for the Lions. Halftime score: 17-10 to the Lions. Replacement Bailey Johnson scored immediately after the break to bring it within two points for the Zons but Jordyn Watson answered almost immediately for Chicago. It was locked for the next 15 minutes as the defenses turned up the heat. In the last 20 minutes it was like a free for all. The Twin Cities scored two, then the Lions one. With three minutes to go, Laura Pearce sailed over the line for the Amazons, tying the game 31-31. It was the final play of the game when replacement Ciara Clawson found the try zone one last time; Chloe Thomas slotted her first kick of the match, and the Amazons finished on top 37-31. Both the Lions and the Amazons are finished for the season, both leaving everything they had on the pitch.

Over in the Eastern Conference, it was the Pittsburgh Forge (7-1) on top of the table last month. However two of their four wins came from forfeits, so we weren’t really sure if they had what it took, or just got lucky based on the schedule. Turns out, they have what it takes. They bit back at the Columbus Squirrels (6-2) on October 11th, making up for their single loss earlier in the season. It was a close match, Ciara Pettinos’ penalty goal being the difference between the two sides. Forge secures the top seed and the home berth for the semifinals next month. Who will they be playing? Don’t ask me, you can read the details above and make an educated guess for yourself. 

The Columbus Squirrels will be joining them in the semifinals after finishing second. The Squirrels only had two matches in October, one being that loss to the Forge, and the other a 75-0 stomp of Detroit. They were also supposed to play the Cincinnati Kelts (0-8) who ended up forfeiting most of the latter half of their season. The Squirrels will head to the winner of the Western Conference in an effort to make it back to that Midwest championship match. 

The Grand Rapids Growlers (5-3) had an excellent first season in D1. They capped off their debut season with a 90-5 win over the Kelts. Highlights included a one-point loss to the Forge back in September, a strong 38-0 rout of the Squirrels at home, and two good wins over fourth-place Detroit (2-6). It may not have been in the cards for Grand Rapids to advance this year, but something tells me we will see them in the D1 postseason soon enough. 

Moving into the Atlantic Conference, we had five more matches take place in October. 

NOVA (4-0) are still leading the way, adding a 99-0 win over the Atlanta Harlequins (0-2) to their record book. This was the last match of the season for NOVA, taking the rest of the fall and winter to hibernate before returning to the pitch at the end of March when they travel to undefeated Philadelphia (3-0). 

Philadelphia may have had a tough cross-conference loss to Life U, but they’ve been doing quite well in the Atlantic. October brought them two more wins, both on the road. On the 4th they tackled Boston (0-3) 57-0 and just last weekend they defeated the New York Rugby Club (3-2) in New York. Considering last year they finished fourth overall, this is a massive improvement from the Pennsylvania side. Their last match this fall will be this upcoming weekend when they host the D.C. Furies (1-1). 

Moving down to our current third place team, New York Rugby Club (3-2) added a pair of wins and a loss to their record this past month. They do have the most matches played of any team, facing off against every opponent except the Atlanta Harlequins. They defeated the Raleigh Venom (0-3) down in North Carolina at the start of the month before defeating the Furies in Washington, DC 41-28. In a surprise twist, it was their home match on October 25th that they lost; albeit to undefeated Philadelphia. 

Boston, Atlanta, and Raleigh are all still looking for their first win of the season. Raleigh came close on October 11th when they traveled to the Furies, but they couldn’t seal the deal and lost it 21-20. The Harlequins will have one more chance to get a win this fall, they travel to D.C. on November 15th to play the Furies. Outside of the two games in November, the rest of the league will return in March to finish out their season in preparation for playoffs. 

The Seattle Orcas will return as the sole Women’s D1 team from the Pacific Northwest region. Seattle plays a bit of a hybrid with the Women’s D2 teams in the area as well as in the BC Premiership out of British Columbia, Canada. They will then attend the Pacific Super Regional to compete for the regional seed to Nationals.

After starting their D1/D2 campaign 2-0 in September, the Orcas’ Premier side took on the UBC Thunderbirds for their first match of the BC Premiership. The Thunderbirds dominated the first half, taking a 19-0 lead into halftime. The Orcas bounced back, keeping the Thunderbirds scoreless in the second half while finding the try zone for the first. Unfortunately Seattle wasn’t able to put up more points than UBC did in the first 40, final score 19-15 to UBC. Seattle’s next match is November 15th against Abbotsford. 

Heading to the Rocky Mountains, we check in with our three Women’s D1 sides representing Colorado and Utah. 

The Utah Vipers (3-0) are obviously the big name here as they are the defending National Champions. And they held up that image with their 36-5 away win over Denver Black Ice (1-2) back in September. Travel always seems harder for teams in the Rocky Mountain (and we’ve seen this across all divisions and genders). You’re either cramped in a car going over literal mountains, or required to take a flight in order to get from Utah to Colorado. So anytime there’s an away win, it’s pretty impressive. With that in mind, on October 11th the Vipers played Denver again, but this time they hosted. Final score 119-5 to the Vipers. Not pretty. With that kind of scoreline, it wasn’t all that surprising last weekend when Utah hit the road again to take on the Colorado Gray Wolves (0-2), dominating 59-14. It’s clear that whatever Utah started last year, they intend to finish again. Good luck to anyone who stands in their way.

Despite the walloping that Denver received from Utah, they’re still second place in the standings thanks to a 41-24 win over the Colorado Gray Wolves at the start of the month. Cassis Tingley had a hat-trick on the day to help propel her team to victory. There’s one final match of the fall to look forward to, this weekend when Black Ice hosts the Gray Wolves. If the Gray Wolves can get a bonus point win and deny Black Ice any bonus points, they will hop into second place. However if Black Ice wins or gets a bonus point, they’ll remain second. 

Last year NorCal was solely represented by Life West, who competed in the local D2 competition before planning to progress to the Pacific Super Regional. However, they bowed out at the last minute, leaving their spot to be filled by the Santa Monica Dolphins who took on the Seattle Orcas in the semifinal. 

Life West have indicated their intent to return this year in the NorCal D1/D2 hybrid league with the Berkeley All Blues and the Sacramento Amazons. Matches are starting November 22, but no formal schedule posted yet.

Last year down in SoCal we had three California-based sides joined by Tempe out of Arizona. SoCal also ended up sending two teams to the Pacific Super Regional last year in order to fill the gap created by Life West’s late drop. Whether this increased exposure and heightened the desire for more D1 teams to join, we aren’t sure. These games didn’t kick off until January, so still time for the schedule and teams to be finalized. 

The Texas Women’s Premiership won’t kickoff until December 13th, but many of these teams will be active in November at the Austin Valkyries’ Bat City XVs. Texas’ newest addition, Life, has already been playing some matches against the Atlantic D1 teams as a prep for the winter and spring season. They took down NYRC back in September, and followed this up with an impressive 71-3 defeat of Philadelphia this past month. As covered above, Philadelphia are 3-0 in the Atlantic conference. This bodes incredibly well for Life, who are debuting in the Women’s D1 this year as well as fielding a collegiate side.