St. Bonaventure’s women are headed back to a national rugby tournament.

The Bonnies received an at-large bid to the 16-team Premier Cup bracket of the Collegiate Rugby Championship National 7s this weekend at Boyds, Maryland. SBU opens play Saturday at 10 a.m. vs. New Haven.

The St. Bonaventure men earned an automatic bid to the CRC National 7s — also being held at Boyds, Maryland — by winning the Old Blue 7s qualifier March 29. They open play in the 32-team Premier Cup bracket at 9:20 a.m. Friday vs. Delaware.

Tournament games will be streamed on either The Rugby Network or YouTube, depending on which field a game is being played on.

The Bonaventure women, who made the move this school year to Division I after winning the 2023 national 15s title in the small-college division, earned the bid with their performance when they hosted Walsh and Wheeling universities in a CRC nationals qualifier on March 29.

Despite losing to Wheeling, 31-17, in the title game, the Bonnies steamrolled Walsh twice, 41-0 and 38-0, to warrant strong consideration for a tournament bid. Makenna Ramsey, Kaylee Middaugh, Natalie Lamar and Ashlee Reid all had multiple goals for the Bonnies in the tournament.

“This will be our first time competing at this level, and we will be facing several NCAA programs in this new bracket,” said Meredith Pyke, Bonnies’ head coach. “This is the move we need to make as we continue to professionalize the program, bringing in students from across the nation with rugby experience and growing our experience level and depth.”

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure is a community committed to transforming the lives of its students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a commitment to academic excellence and lifelong civic engagement. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #6 for value and #14 for innovation by U.S. News and World Report (2024).