Liberty Conference Shows It's Serious, Gets D1A OK

Liberty Conference Shows It's Serious, Gets D1A OK

A D1A rugby membership panel has voted for the Liberty Conference to be part of the championship for the next three years.

Aug 22, 2017 by Alex Goff
Liberty Conference Shows It's Serious, Gets D1A OK
A D1A membership panel has voted for the Liberty Conference to be part of the championship for the next three years.

The 17-team conference was formed out of the Empire and the ECRC, with a couple of teams from the Rugby East.


Only Iona and Delaware were D1A teams in 2016-17, but the conference lobbied hard to join, pointing out that its membership was competitive and provided D1A with a foothold in the Northeast.

The lobbying worked, and it might well have helped that the Liberty Conference was able to field a competitive all-star team for the Atlantic Rugby Cup in Bermuda earlier this month before ever playing a conference game.



The decision adds 17 teams to D1A, bringing the total to 68 the number of college programs in the division.


Liberty Conference 2017 Matches
Aug. 26 Norwich at Colgate Non-Conf.
Aug. 26 St. Joseph's at Iona Non-Conf.
Sept. 2 Oswego at Cortland
Sept. 2 Stony Brook at Albany
Sept. 2 Syracuse at Queens University Non-Conf.
Sept. 2 James Madison at Iona Non-Conf.
Sept. 2 New Hampshire at UMass
Sept. 2 Northeastern at Yale Non-Conf.
Sept. 2 Rhode Island at Brown Non-Conf.
Sept. 3 James Madison at Fordham Non-Conf.
Sept. 8 Rowan at Rutgers Non-Conf.
Sept. 9 Binghamton at Stony Brook
Sept. 9
Cornell at Colgate Non-Conf.
Sept. 9
Delaware at West Chester Non-Conf.
Sept. 9
Albany/Loyola at Iona Non-Conf.
Sept. 9
UConn at New Hampshire
Sept. 9
Yale at Fairfield Non-Conf.
Sept. 9
UMass at AIC
Sept. 9
Endicott at Northeastern
Sept. 9
Rhode Island at Providence
Sept. 10
Columbia at Fordham
Sept. 15
Delaware at Fordham
Sept. 15
Iona at Rutgers
Sept. 16
Albany at Cortland
Sept. 16
Colgate at Binghamton
Sept. 16
Syracuse at Brockport
Sept. 16
UMass at Fairfield
Sept. 16
Rhode Island at Northeastern
Sept. 16
Tufts at UConn
Sept. 22
Rutgers at Delaware
Sept. 22
Iona at Stony Brook
Sept. 23
Binghamton at Cortland
Sept. 23
Albany at Syracuse
Sept. 23
Brockport at Colgate
Sept. 23
Fairfield at Tufts
Sept. 23
Northeastern at UMass
Sept. 23
Boston College at Rhode Island
Sept. 29
Cortland at Rutgers
Sept. 29
Iona at Fordham
Sept. 30
Binghamton at Albany
Sept. 30
Syracuse at Colgate
Sept. 30
Delaware at Stony Brook
Sept. 30
UConn at UMass
Sept. 30
Rhode Island at Fairfield
Oct. 6 Stony Brook at Fordham
Oct. 7 Brockport at Binghamton
Oct. 7
Cortland at Syracuse
Oct. 7
Iona at Delaware
Oct. 7
Rutgers at Albany
Oct. 7
Fairfield at UConn
Oct. 7
Boston College at Northeastern
Oct. 7
Tufts at Rhode Island
Oct. 14
Brockport at Albany
Oct. 14
Colgate at Cortland
Oct. 14
Delaware at Kutztown Non-Conf.
Oct. 14
Rutgers at Stony Brook
Oct. 14
Army at Iona
Oct. 14
UConn at Boston College
Oct. 14
Fairfield at Northeastern
Oct. 14
UMass at Rhode Island
Oct. 14
New Hampshire at Tufts
Oct. 21
Cortland at Brockport
Oct. 21
Colgate at Albany
Oct. 21
Syracuse at Binghamton
Oct. 21
Iona at UMass
Oct. 21
Fordham at Fairfield
Oct. 21
Iona at UMass
Oct. 21
Northeastern at New Hampshire
Oct. 21
Boston College at Tufts
Oct. 27
Fordham at Rutgers
Oct. 28
Albany at Buffalo Non-Conf.
Oct. 28
AIC at Iona Non-Conf.
Oct. 28
UMass at Boston College
Oct. 28
Northeastern at Tufts
Oct. 28
Rhode Island at UConn
Nov. 3
Colgate at Fordham
Nov. 4
Buffalo at Binghamton Non-Conf.
Nov. 4
Delaware at Wilmington RFC
Nov. 4
Boston College at Iona
Nov. 4
UConn at Northeastern
Nov. 4
Stony Brook at Rhode Island
Nov. 4
Tufts at UMass
Nov. 5
Syracuse at Rutgers
Nov. 10
Colgate at Northeastern
Nov. 11
Binghamton at Rutgers
Nov. 11
Delaware at Lindenwood Non-Conf.
Nov. 11
Colgate at Northeastern
Nov. 11
Fordham at Rhode Island
Nov. 18
Iona at St. Mary's Non-Conf.
Nov. 18-20
Bow Games Non-Conf.