HOUSTON – Another incredibly successful women's rugby season has come to a close following this past weekend's trip to Aveva Stadium, home of the Houston SaberCats. On Saturday, No. 2 ranked Notre Dame College battled the top seed University of Michigan for a national championship, and UM came away with a 33-17 victory.
 
To get to the national title game, NDC went 4-0 in the regular season before beating No. 7 Iowa State and No. 5 Indiana to win a third consecutive regional championship. Michigan went 7-0 in the regular season and took down Southern Nazarene and Northern Iowa in the regional bracket.
 
In the 12th minute, on Saturday, NDC's Lucy Leatherman pushed her way across to score the first try of the game. Michigan responded 11 minutes later, when it worked to the right side of the field and across for a try. Both teams missed the first conversion kick and the contest was tied at five.
 
Michigan added on in the 28th minute with another try and led 12-5 at halftime.
 
Not long after the second half began, the Falcons were back at it, moving the ball down the field. Rosa Treece put five more on the board for NDC, using her speed to get past the defense before taking a big hit as she moved past the line. Notre Dame trailed by just two points, until Michigan scored again on a long run to go ahead 19-10.
  
Alivia Leatherman powered through for a try and her sister, Lucy, put the conversion through the uprights to make the score 26-17, in favor of the Wolverines. UM would score one more time as they took the ball away and had a clear field ahead.

Over the past three seasons, Notre Dame has a combined record of 24-5.