The race for the DII Sweet 16 thinned out the last two days, with several conferences either ending their regular seasons or moving on with their playoffs.

Salisbury was one of two teams to punch its ticket to Nationals this weekend, beating UMBC 48-10 Saturday in the Potomac semifinals and Towson 27-0 Sunday in the final to claim the first-ever Potomac Rugby Conference Championship. Towson, despite being shut out against Salisbury, should remain a prime candidate for an at-large bid to the Sweet 16.

Coast Guard also qualified for Nationals Saturday, beating Norwich 22-19 in the New England Championship in New London, Conn.

In the final week of the Rugby Northeast regular season, the clash to keep an eye on was Holy Cross against Bryant, with the winner moving onto the RNE Championship match. Holy Cross won 29-19 and will face Providence Saturday for the right to advance to Nationals. Providence eked out the regular season meeting against Holy Cross 25-24.

In the Tri States, Vassar and Marist won big in the semifinals. Vassar dismantled Fairfield 46-19 and Marist walloped Molloy 67-15. The championship game is Sunday Nov. 17.

The North Division took three-of-four of the WIIL quarterfinals Saturday, with UW-Milwaukee, UW-Stout and UW-Whitewater all advancing to the semifinals. The lone South team to advance to the semis is Illinois State, which ousted the North’s bottom seed in UW-Lacrosse. The WIIL semifinals will be played April 6-7 in Cottage Grove, Wisc., with Illinois State squaring off against UW-Stout and UW-Whitewater drawing UW-Milwaukee.

The Mid-Atlantic (MARC) pared its contenders down to two on the weekend. The top two seeds, Rowan and Lock Haven, received byes and didn’t play Saturday, while East Stroudsburg beat York 47-7 and Drexel upset Scranton 31-24 in the quarterfinals. Sunday, rested Rowan crushed Drexel 43-5 and East Stroudsburg sneaked past Lock Haven 26-24. They meet Saturday in the MARC final for the chance to advance to the Sweet 16.

So far, Salisbury, Coast Guard, Minnesota-Duluth, Colgate and IUP have qualified for Nationals. Three more will do so within the next week, and the rest of the automatic bids will be won next semester.

Potomac
QF: Towson 50-3 John’s Hopkins
QF: Salisbury 38-14 George Mason
QF: Georgetown 38-12 George Washington
QF: UMBC 28-12 Mt. St. Mary’s
SF: Salisbury 48-10 UMBC
SF: Towson 48-25 Georgetown
Final: Salisbury 27-0 Towson

New England
SF: Coast Guard 39-3 Rhode Island
SF: Norwich 32-17 Vermont
Final: Coast Guard 22-19 Norwich

Rugby Northeast
Final: Providence vs. Holy Cross  11/17  Easton, Mass.

Tri States
SF: Marist 67-15 Molloy
SF: Vassar 46-19 Fairfield
Final: 11/17  Poughkeepsie, NY

Mid-Atlantic
QF: ESU 47-7 York
QF: Drexel 31-24 Scranton
SF: Rowan 43-5 Drexel
SF: ESU 26-24 Lock Haven
Final:  11/17  

WIIL
QF 1: Illinois State over UW-Lacrosse
QF 2: UW-Milwaukee over Western Illinois
QF 3: UW-Whitewater 77-0 Loyola 
QF 4: UW-Stout 50-0 Eastern Illinois
SF: Illinois State vs. UW-Stout  4/6/13  Cottage Grove, Wisc.
SF: UW-Whitewater vs. UW-Milwaukee  4/6/13  Cottage Grove, Wisc.
Final:  4/7/13  Cottage Grove, Wisc.

Gateway
SF 1: Saint Louis Univ. vs. Central Missouri  Spring  TBD
SF 2: Southern Illinois vs. Principia  Spring  TBD
Final: TBD

Cardinals
QF 1: Richmond @ Radford
QF 2: VMI @ Old Dominion
QF 3: William & Mary @ Longwood
QF 4: James Madison @ Mary Washington
SF: Winner QF #1 vs. Winner QF #2  4/13/13  Richmond, Va.
SF: Winner QF #3 vs. Winner QF #4  4/13/13  Richmond, Va.
Final:  4/14/13  Richmond, Va.