The American International College women's rugby team will take on Central Washington University in the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association Semifinal, held at Army West Point.

LAST TIME OUT: The Yellow Jackets took revenge for a regular season defeat by upending Dartmouth 33-29 at Abdow Field in the NIRA Quarterfinal on November 12. The contest went back-and-forth, with Dartmouth jumping out to an early 10-0 lead before AIC broke the shutout with a long try run from Shamira Robles and successful conversion; the teams traded tries and conversions before the half, with AIC's Molly Plante scoring to cut the deficit to 17-14 at the break. The home side then scored two straight tries, from Anne-Laurence Harvey and Anna Mbengam, building a 26-17 lead, before the Big Green responded with a pair of tries of their own, taking a 29-26 edge with barely five minutes left. However, the Yellow Jackets would get the last, crucial score, as Kayla Clark pushed over the line and put the ball down for the 31-29 lead, with a conversion thereafter accounting for the remaining two points in the victory.
Central Washington, as the top seed, earned a bye in the first round of the NIRA Playoffs, which features seven teams.

LAST TIME THEY MET: Former AIC head coach Mel Denham's Wildcats got the best of her old squad as the top-ranked Central Washington team took a 57-24 win at Abdow Field on October 2. The visiting side scored the first ten points of the game before the teams started trading tries, with Mbengam touching down twice and Sarah Coucci connecting on both conversions to trim the Wildcats lead to 15-14. That was as close as AIC could get, however, as Central Washington scored two tries before the half and two more after to take a 37-19 lead. Shanell Russo broke the streak with a try for AIC to bring the team within 11, but the Wildcats ended the game with a 20-7 run for the 56-29 final.

FROM THE MOUTH OF THE COACH: "CWU are a well drilled outfit, very disciplined and we will have to be on or top form in order to beat them," said AIC head coach Peter Lang. "Fortunately, we have been improving game after game and are peaking at just the right time," he added, concluding that "the squad is very together and have great synergy which will help us in the game and I believe our superior fitness and physicality will make a difference."

TWO FAMILIAR FOES: Not only are the Yellow Jackets facing their former head coach, but also a former teammate, as Central Washington flanker Carrie Vaillancourt spent two seasons with AIC from 2012-14 before transferring to CWU to play for the Wildcats. The senior is a native of Olympia, Washington.

NEXT UP: The winner of this match advances to the NIRA Championship, also held at West Point, on November 20 at 2:00 p.m.