On March 27, 2017 the Mary Washington women's rugby team was informed by USA Rugby that they had qualified for a bid into the USA Rugby National Spring Playoffs.  Because Mary Washington did not win their conference, they were not given an automatic qualification into the playoffs.  However, like the previous year, USA Rugby was looking to fill additional At-Large bids.  Due to the team's performance throughout the year, USA Rugby accepted Mary Washington's bid into the tournament.

A total of 14 teams either qualified or were selected for the USA Rugby Spring Playoffs.  The winner of the Spring Playoffs has the option to play the USA Rugby Fall Champion, for a National Championship.  The fourteen teams advancing to the Spring Playoffs are:

California State University, Fresno
Eastern Washington University
Eckerd College
Grand Canyon University
Kansas State University
Kennesaw State University
Santa Clara University
Towson University
Tulane University
University of California, Irvine
University of Mary Washington
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
University of South Carolina
Western Washington University

Four regional venues will host 4 teams each, with the winners of each region advancing to the Spring Playoffs semifinals and finals in Stanford, CA on April 22 & 23, 2017.  Mary Washington will face Kansas State University in the South East Region.  The winners/losers of that match will face the winners/losers of Kennesaw State versus UNC-Charlotte.

The Spring Playoff Champion will face the Fall Champion on May 6 at Life University.

By appearing in the USA Rugby National Playoffs, Mary Washington will have 11 appearances, this is more than any other USA Rugby Women's Collegiate Division II team in the country.  Claremont Colleges and Winona State each have 7 appearances, followed by Stonehill College and UC Santa Cruz with 6 appearances.  Humboldt State, Lee University, Norwich University, Shippensburg University, Temple University, and Washington State University have 5 appearances.