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Cal Earns No. 1 Seed In West Region

March 24, 2025
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BERKELEY – California rugby has earned the West Region's No. 1 seed in the 2025 D1A National Collegiate Championships, USA Rugby announced Monday. The Golden Bears are slated to host No. 8 Colorado State in the first round of the postseason on April 5 in Berkeley.
 
"We've turned the page on the regular season and removed the safety net," Cal head coach Jack Clark said. "A single-elimination tournament is just that."
 
Cal finished the regular season with an 11-1 overall record and was undefeated against D1A West Region opponents. The Bears opened their 2024-25 XVs campaign with an eight-game win streak, capturing victories against Long Beach State (101-7), fourth-seeded Cal Poly (57-14), Utah Valley (128-0), UC Santa Cruz (108-0), fifth-seeded Arizona (48-0), seventh-seeded UCLA (36-7), Grand Canyon (86-21) as well as an out-of-league 49-24 win over British Columbia in the return of the historic World Cup series between the Bears and the Thunderbirds.

The Bears took their only loss of the season on the road to East Region No. 2 seed, Navy, before getting back in the win column for their last three matches of the regular season. Cal defeated sixth-seeded BYU, 48-17, in Provo, before returning to Berkeley to defeat East Region No. 4 seed Army 24-19 on Homecoming and second-seeded Saint Mary's, 48-45, in the regular season finale this past weekend.
 
"It's an exciting time of the season," Cal captain Charlie Walsh said. "Right now we're focusing on controlling our preparation and being diligent about how we use the upcoming bye week to get ourselves ready for postseason rugby."
 
The full playoff bracket is below. Following the April 5 first round matches, the higher-seeded team will receive hosting privileges for the ensuing quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. The national championship match is set for May 3 at Kuntz Memorial Stadium in Indianapolis.

Cal Earns No. 1 Seed In West Region

1,107 Views | 2 Replies | Last: 1 mo ago by TomBear
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6:43p, 3/24/25
Congratulations to the boys, well earned. Time to go to work and bring home another title. Go Bears!
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TomBear
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10:10a, 3/25/25

These playoffs are going to insane. There are LOTS of high quality teams involved thanks to a lot of programs upping their game.

In the first round, UCLA plays St. Marys in what will be a major league grudge match. The Gaels were defeated in Westwood, and they're going to throw everything they have at the bruins to make a statement. Central Washington will play BYU, and the Bears will host Colorado State.

But that EAST 1st round in going to be really interesting with Life taking on Davenport, Army playing Mount St. Marys, Lindenwood playing Arkansas State, and what might be a better match than expected, Navy going against Penn State.

There are a few possibilities that are really intriguing.....a chance that Cal gets to play St. Marys again if they both advance to the third round, followed by a chance Cal could get Navy again, or Arkansas State (you will recall Robert Paylor was paralyzed in the championship match against Arkansas State a few years ago) for the national championship.

Meanwhile, Arizona is building a new facility for training and has established a scholarship program for their team.

It's a great time to be a rugby fan!

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