There were plenty of points to be scored today in the first days play of the Women’s College DI & II playoff race at Ohio State University. The Cougar Women made perhaps the biggest statement of the day putting a solid 54-0 thumping on the hometown Buckeyes of Ohio State in the DI bracket.

The DII bracket started off the day in Columbus, where Winona State took on George Washington, wile on the next pitch over, the Panther Women of Pittsburgh took on Grand Valley State. The Panthers also had little trouble finding the try-line in their 55-12 win over GVSU. Led by three tries a piece from Scrum-Half Kim Siegel and Inside Center Jessica Young, Pitt asserted their intentions on the DII race.

Grand Valley would open the scoring in the 5th minute with a try from Winger Kristine Smith, and would keep Pitt off the scoreboard for nearly 20 minutes of hard fought action until Kelly Lakis opened the floodgates for the Panther Women. The tries would come hot and heavy for Pitt after that, touching three more times before the half. Pitt then scored two more tries in the first two minutes of the second half, and the match was never in doubt from there.

Meanwhile, Winona was taking on George Washington in a more tightly contested battle. Winona opened the scoring in the 10th minute with a try from Open Side Flanker Chelsea Filipobich. The two teams would trade scores back and forth and would go into the half with GW up by a converted try. The second half would be all Winona however as the Black Katts punched in four unanswered tries to take the 25-12 win.

In DI Women’s College action, Northern Iowa took on the Colorado Buffaloes in a heated battle that saw four yellow cards, as well as one red. Northern Iowa jumped out to an early 10-0 lead before Colorado’s Katie Flaherty was sent to the bin in the 19th minute. Fifteen minutes later, Kim La Mons was sent to the bin for Northern Iowa, but the Panthers still took the lead into halftime 20-0. La Mons wouldn’t last much longer as she was later shown a red card and ejected from the game. The Buffs would come stampeding back following the red card, with two quick tries from hard charging Outside Center Erin Overcash. The Buffs added another try from replacement player Mia Pino, but ultimately it was too little too late for CU as Northern Iowa finished off the Buffs 30-15 despite being down two players for the final 20 minutes of the match.

Home field advantage was of little use to Ohio State as the Cougar Women from Provo, UT piled on the tries for a 54-0 win. Star Monson was certainly a star with four tries, and Rebekah Siebach added four more in the lopsided victory.

Play continues around the country tomorrow in the Women’s DI & DII playoffs. Follow all the results on USA Rugby’s Facebook and Twitter feeds!