ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's rugby team (7-4) begins its spring season this Sunday with a 15s matchup at Penn State (3-4) along with the Frostbite 7s. The first of six matches for Navy at the Frostbite 7s begins at 9:40 a.m., while its 15s contest versus Penn State is slated to kickoff at 3:15 p.m.
 
Frostbite 7s Schedule
The Mids will have two teams competing in the Frostbite 7s with the first matchup kicking off at 9:40 a.m., between Navy's #1 squad versus Kutztown's #1 squad. Navy's #2 team will begin its day at 11:20 a.m., against West Virginia, followed by Navy's #1 team at noon versus Rowan. Navy's #2 lineup faces Kutztown's #2 at 1:00 p.m., and the final contest for Navy's #1 team begins at 1:20 p.m., versus Bloomsburg. The #2 team concludes the day with a battle against Binghamton's #2 squad at 2:40 p.m.
 
Fall Season Recap
Navy went 7-4 in its first fall campaign as a varsity program and won its second consecutive CRAA Fall D1 Championship. The Mids went 4-4 during the regular season with wins over Lander (44-0), West Chester (20-10), New Haven (25-5) and Virginia Tech (51-7).
 
Navy dominated the CRAA Playoffs, outscoring its three opponents 125-36. Navy defeated service academy rival Air Force, 12-3, in the opening round, and took the semifinal match over Northeastern 52-5 in Annapolis. In the finals, Navy erupted for a season-high 61 points to defeat Utah State 61-28. 
 
Marissa Meyer was a huge contributor to Navy's offense in the second half of the season. After scoring only two tries in Navy's first five matches, the sophomore scored 10 in the final six, including five in the postseason. She ended the fall with a team-leading 60 points on 12 tries.
 
Team captains Nicole Deprey and Eliza Herring were also big scorers for the Mids. Deprey finished second on the team with 39 points on one try, 11 conversion kicks and four penalty kicks, and Herring totaled 31 points on five tries and three conversion kicks.
 
Navy ended its fall campaign with 49 tries scored, 31 of which came in its final five matches.
 
New Conference
Navy was welcomed into the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) starting in the fall of 2023 after being accepted into the league back on Jan. 30. The NIRA is an association of NCAA member schools sponsoring women's rugby that serves in two capacities; the competitive home for current NCAA women's rugby programs and the advocacy and outreach arm of the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women on behalf of women's rugby.
 
The NIRA has three separate leagues for Division I, II and III programs. Navy will join the Division I league, which consists of Army, Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard, Long Island, Mount St. Mary's, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart and Princeton.
 
Annually, the NIRA conducts co-located Divisional Championships the third weekend in November. In 2022, Dartmouth hosted the NIRA Championship in front of a crowd of over 1,200 attendees. The NIRA Championship format is the 15-players-a-side Rugby World Cup playing format.
 
Scouting Penn State
Sunday's contest will be the first of the spring season for the Nittany Lions. Penn State finished its fall season with a 3-4 record, earning victories over Michigan (57-5), James Madison (86-0) and DC Furies (52-31). They dropped contests to Queens (41-19), Life (53-0), Central Washington (63-12) and Whitehorse (28-24).
 
Up Next
Navy returns to the pitch on Saturday, March 25 for its service academy matchup versus Army. The match is scheduled to kickoff at 10:30 a.m., from Segra Field in Leesburg, Va.