Wheeling, W. Va. - On Saturday, the Wheeling University Rugby team punched their ticket to the National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) 15's playoffs with a 33-21 win over Adrian College in the Big Rivers Rugby Conference (BRRC) Wildcard game. That win was enough to break them into the top 10 in the country in the final edition of the NCR DI Top 20 coach's poll. The Cardinals reached their highest mark of the season so far, coming in at #8 in the country entering the tournament, their first top 10 ranking since joining D1 Rugby full-time this season. 

The Cardinals once again met up with Adrian College, like they did in their regular season finale, this time with a spot in the NCR playoffs on the line. It was a competitive first half, with neither team getting across the try line for the first 38 minutes of the game. The Cardinals converted three three-point kicks during that time and were ahead 9-3 before an Adrian try in the 38th minute made it 10-9 as the teams broke for halftime. Wheeling came out strong in the second half, scoring three tries and propelled themselves to a 31-15 lead. Adrian battled back with one final try, but it wasn't enough as the Cardinals were able to hold on for the 33-21 win. 

Leading the way for the Cardinals in the game was Ayoub Jalli, who went 4-5 on three-point kicks and a perfect 3-3 on conversion kicks. He accounted for 18 of his team's 33 points in the game as he continues to be a clutch kicker for the Cardinals. Aaron Juma continued his scoring success, punching the ball across the try line for the fifth consecutive match to bring his season total to 11. The other two Cardinal's tries came courtesy of Rua Karimazondo and Jose Oltra as the Cardinals picked up what was one of the biggest wins in the history of the program.  

Landing in the Number one spot for the third consecutive week is Brown University, who enters the NCR 15's playoffs as the #1 seed and on a 10-game winning streak. They were followed by #2 St. Bonaventura and #3 Indiana. The rest of the NCR Top 20 Coaches Poll looks like this: 

1. Brown.                                11. Fairfield
2. St. Bonaventura.                12. Adrian
3. Indiana                               13. Dartmouth
4. Thomas More                     14. Iona
5. Queens                               15. Marian
6. AIC                                      16. Nazareth
7. Kutztown                             17. Siena
8. Wheeling                             18. Mary Washington
9. Notre Dame College           19. Mount St. Mary's
10. Notre Dame                      20. Belmont Abbey

The Wheeling University Rugby team is still waiting to find out who their opponent will be this Saturday for their first round NCR 15's Playoff game. Stay tuned to wucardinals.com for updates and the official announcement when Wheeling finds out who they will be facing.