University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, ranked #2 by Goff Rugby Report, defeated #11 Vermont 63-25 to advance to the USA Rugby National Men’s DII College semifinals.

 

The Warhawks will face Notre Dame College, which beat Salisbury Sunday. It wasn’t all easy for Whitewater, as they fell behind 10-5 in the early going.

 

“Vermont came out on fire and set us back a little,” said Whitewater fullback Eric Pachowitz. “But we came together after that second try - we’ve got some great senior leaders - and got it together.”

 

Vermont sent a very quick defense on the Warhawks, hoping to either tie up their inside backs or force them into errors.

 

It came down to flyhalf Jack Healy and inside center Robbie Sindic, who needed to move the ball quickly to get it to their outside backs. More often than not, they did, and when they were bottled up, they took the hit and their forwards rucked well in support.

 

“We had a great platform from our forwards,” said Pachowitz. “We won almost all their set pieces and when we got the ball moving we were able to break through their line. But we needed Jack and Robbie to deal with that pressure from their defense.”

 

Lock AJ Andolino led from the front, powering through the Vermont interior defense and scoring two tries. Vermont were penalized a few times in the breakdown and Andolino was usually the one to tap quickly and surge ahead.

 

UWW’s score might seem high, but they have eclipsed 63 points six times this season in going 10-0. Only once, against fellow national quarterfinalists UW-Stout, were they held to less than 50. Their average points per game is just under 84.