Category / College Sports News

News, scores, and more from the college sports world.

by Matt Noonan

RIC Tops Keene State In Season-Opener, 51-47

By Matt Noonan

RIC women’s basketball won its season-opener against Keene State. (PHOTO COURTESY: RIC Athletics)

The first New England D-III women’s basketball game of the 2020-21 school year is in the books as Rhode Island College topped Keene State, 51-47.

With the win, the Anchorwomen improve to 1-0 overall and 1-0 against Little East Conference (LEC) foes while the Owls dip to 0-1 (0-1).

RIC’s Maci Dorantes led all scorers with 15 points – she converted 6 of 14 field goals while tallying two rebounds and two steals. Brooke Young and Sophia Guerrier combined for 21 points while Arianna Hebert led Keene State with 10 points on 3 of 6 shoot.

Rhode Island raced out to a 12-8 lead, which would increase to 24-17 at the break. Keene State would keep things close throughout the second half – the Red and White netted 30 points during the final 20 minutes – but could not snatch the lead from the Anchorwomen, who led the entire contest.

Saturday’s matchup between RIC and Keene State marked the beginning of a short and abbreviated LEC season – it was also the first time a member of the conference competed on the hardwood since March 7, 2020 when Eastern Connecticut lost to Messiah in the second round of the NCAA D-III Tournament.

Rhode Island will seek its second-straight win next Wednesday, January 27 when they host UMass Dartmouth for a 6 p.m. match-up. Keene State will also compete against the Corsairs next week – they will visit UMass Dartmouth on Saturday, January 30 for a 12 p.m. tip-off.

by Matt Noonan

LEC Set To Tip-Off Its 2020-21 Basketball Season This Weekend

The LEC is set to tip-off its 2020-21 college basketball season this week. (PHOTO COURTESY: bobert1980 on Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC)

By NoontimeSports.com

The Little East Conference (LEC) basketball season is set to begin this weekend. And this is certainly good news for New England small college basketball fans.

As of this evening, three men’s basketball games are scheduled to tip-off this Saturday, January 23, along with one women’s contests between Keene State and Rhode Island College. More games will occur both later this month and next month, along with a four-team playoff in early March. And pending a national postseason does occur, the winner of their respective conference tournament would represent the league in the NCAA D-III playoffs.

Both Keene State squads have competed previously this school year in their Red vs. White contest while the men’s team squared-off last November against New Hampshire. The Rhode Island men’s basketball team competed last December against Bryant.

While the opening weekend will feature just six of the league’s nine members, Southern Maine is expected to play some games next month, according to a recent post from Al Bean, who is the school’s athletic director.

UMass Boston and Western Connecticut are the only two LEC members that won’t be competing this winter.

The Western Connecticut men’s basketball team captured the LEC crown last winter to secure a date with Tufts University in the opening round of the 2020 NCAA D-III Tournament.

The Eastern Connecticut women’s basketball team, which won its second-straight LEC title last February, announced earlier this month that they would not play an abbreviated season due to “health risks surrounding COVID-19.”

Here is this weekend’s LEC men’s and women’s basketball schedule:

  • Keene State at Rhode Island College (WBB) | 12 p.m.
  • Eastern Connecticut at Plymouth State (MBB) | 1 p.m.
  • Castleton at UMass Dartmouth (MBB) | 2 p.m.
  • Keene State at Rhode Island College (MBB) | 3 p.m.
by Matt Noonan

Get Read For FCS New England Football This Spring

Most FCS New England football teams will compete in a few contests this spring. (PHOTO COURTESY: Visualhunt.com)

By Matt Noonan

The thought of seeing spring football in New England is slowly becoming a reality, especially for a handful of NCAA Division I FCS programs.

Yesterday, the Patriot League announced plans to play a shortened season this spring, which means Holy Cross will have a chance to compete for its second-straight league title after securing the conference crown in 2019.

Maine and New Hampshire will also compete this spring – the two teams will compete against members of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) North Division. The CAA’s spring season is slated to begin on Saturday, February 20 with Davidson visiting Elon and James Madison hosting Morehead State.

Rhode Island, which is one of seven teams that makes-up the CAA’s North Division, will also be in action this spring – the Rams are currently scheduled to compete against Bryant on Saturday, February 27.

The CAA will not have a championship game like the Patriot League. Instead, the team with “the best overcall conference record” will secure the league’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA Football Championship, which will begin Saturday, April 24.

The Northeastern Conference (NEC) plans to play a four-game conference schedule, which is good news for fans of Bryant, Central Connecticut, Merrimack, and Sacred Heart. Games will be played on Sundays or midweek with a conference championship expected to take place on either Friday, April 16 or Saturday, April 17.

As noted on Twitter, by Brett McMurphy of Stadium, the FCS national title game will be played Sunday, May 16 in Frisco, Texas.

by Matt Noonan

D3 Football Spring Games Will Begin In February

By Matt Noonan

Get ready for some NCAA D-III football games this spring.

Bluffton University’s football team will compete a few times this spring. (PHOTO COURTESY: Bluffton University Athletics)

As confirmed yesterday by our friends James Baker and Frank Rossi of In The (D3FB) Huddle, there will be some teams competing this spring – in fact, two games are currently slated to occur next month on Saturday, February 27, according to D3Football.com‘s scoreboard.

Bluffton University, which competed last October against Adrian College, is scheduled to compete in its first spring contest against Rose-Hulman while Mount Saint Joseph University will visit Manchester University. Both contests are scheduled to kickoff at 1:30 p.m. eastern.

Similar to Bluffton, Manchester also competed last fall – the Spartans dropped both contests to Trine University and Adrian College.

More games are expected to occur once the calendar flips from February to March, including the “Bronze Ball Game” between Manchester and Anderson University, which is currently scheduled for Saturday, March 27 at 1:30 p.m. eastern. The Spartans captured the previous meeting in 2019 by a score of 70-54, thanks to eight rushing touchdowns by Donovan Henderson, Jr.

by Matt Noonan

The Patriot League Will Play Football This Spring

By NoontimeSports.com

There will be a Patriot League football season taking place this school year.

Patriot League (PHOTO COURTESY: BU.edu)

As announced earlier today, the Patriot League plans to play a shortened season this spring, beginning Saturday, March 13 and concluding Saturday, April 14 with a championship game between the winner of the North and South Divisions. Colgate, Fordham, and Holy Cross will compete in the North Division while Bucknell, Lafayette, and Lehigh will makeup the South Division.

All six teams will play four contests, including two non-divisional games.

Georgetown won’t compete in the Patriot League’s spring season, but does hope to welcome back student-athletes to campus later this year to begin preparations for its 2021-22 academic year schedule.

The Patriot League scheduled a make-up date for Saturday, April 17.

Football is just one of many sports that is currently slated to occur this spring, pending it is safe to compete due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Other fall sports are expected to take place this spring, including field hockey, soccer, and volleyball.