May 10 - The Carolinas’ Division II Women will join the South Atlantic Rugby Conference for the Fall 2023 season. This merger adds six new teams to National Collegiate Rugby’s Division II and Small College competitions.

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The new SARC teams include:

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• Elon University
• Appalachian State University
• UNC-Charlotte
• East Carolina University
• UNC-Greensboro
• Western Carolina University

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All of the teams will play at the Division II level except for Elon, which will compete in NCR’s Small College division. Following this merger, NCR will serve about 90 Division II teams and over 110 Small College teams.

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Currently, the Carolinas’ teams compete in the Spring Division II competition administered by the Collegiate Rugby Association of America. Both Appalachian State and UNC Charlotte have been standout performers and are expected to be highly competitive in NCR’s Fall championship pathway.

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Up-and-coming coach and administrator, Paige Bramblett, will join the SARC leadership team to assist with the conference merger. Bramblett is also the coach at Appalachian State University.

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Commenting on the merger, Bramblett stated: “The SARC merger will add a lot to our regional competition, and gives us access to NCR’s national championship events, high-performance opportunities and marketing of women’s rugby.”

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With the addition of the Carolinas teams and the recently-announced MARC DII women, there continues to be a shift towards NCR's Fall competition. The Fall season will see over 60% of non-NCAA women's teams participating in an NCR conference and 80% of all women's teams aligned with a Fall 15s championship pathway.

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“Reconnecting this region into one competition is crucial for their development so they play more matches closer to home. This merger has also prompted more coaches to step into executive leadership roles to ensure the conference can provide opportunities to all members,” added NCR’s Women’s Director, Angela Smarto.