Stony Brook Seeks More Challenges
Stony Brook University is happily on top of the Empire Conference with a 5-0 record after they beat the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point Saturday, and should have not trouble claiming the title whether there’s a championship game or not.
There might not be, because #1 and #2 are supposed to play off, but Kings Point has informed the Empire Conference that they can’t play that game because a huge chunk of their team will be on ships traveling the globe as part of their education.
Stony Brook Head Coach Jerry Mirro said he’d like to play someone, and right now it looks like that someone could be SUNY Binghamton, which moved to 2-2 with a 34-20 defeat of Colgate, or the surprising Syracuse, which overcame some lopsided early losses to move to 2-2 with a 33-17 defeat of SUNY Brockport Sunday night.
NCRC 7s Championship Slated for Oct 18
Rough weather caused an early end to the Palouse 7s at Washington State University, but there's one more event to go, as the Northwest Collegiate Rugby Conference championship tournament takes place at Central Washington University October 18.
Twelve teams are slated to participate, with hosts CWU one of the favorites. CWU tops Pool A and will play Oregon, Eastern Washington, and North Idaho College.
In Pool B is one of CWU's main challengers in Western Washington. WWU will face off with Washington Idaho, and Gonzaga.
In the Pool C, Washington State takes on Oregon State, Boise State, and Western Oregon in perhaps the most competitive pool top to bottom.
The tournament kicks off at 10:40am Saturday, October 18 and lasts two days.
PNW Refs Show Support for College 7s
The Pacific Northwest Rugby Referees Society showed their support for the series of college 7s tournaments in the region this fall with a strong panel of elite officials for the four weeksn of action.
In total, 4 states were represented among the 17 referees appointed to the six-event set, with one – Idaho’s Brett Johnson – set to officiate at four tournaments, and two – Oregon’s Carrissa Hsieh and Chad Douglas – set to officiate at three tournaments.
Douglas is a seasoned campaigner and Hsieh recently completed a vigorous summer series, while other referees familiar to the series are Val Burns (Oregon), Erik Goheen (Washington), Michelle Knurr (Washington), Chris Nesmith (Washington).
There are also some newcomers in Nick Cutrell (Oregon) and Jeremy Torres (Washington), as well as the addition of past National Development Panel Referee Gavin Curtis (Oregon).
Men DI College Weekend Scores
Here are the latest Men's DI College scores, with a few omissions.
Towson Wins Clash in PotomacTowson University upended their longtime rivals Salisbury 32-21 Saturday in a game between the top two teams in the Potomac Men's DII College Conference. In a hugely physical game, Salisbury scored early to lead 7-0 and were still ahead even after Towson flanker Anthony Bria rambled in from 30 meters out - 7-5 Salisbury. But slowly the Towson forwards started to have the better of the game. They worked a drive down to the tryline and then prop Bradley Rockstroh picked and dove over to put Towson up. Confident they could work the tight game against the Sharks, Towson kept it up.
UCLA Bests Cal for West Coast 7s
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif - University of California Los Angeles beat University of California Berkeley (Cal) in a tight final to win the West Coast 7s Saturday at the Cal Poly Sports Complex.
"Looking at day overall, we did a lot of the things we wanted to get done," said captain Jake Anderson. "It was a decent opening to the season."
Junior James Kondrat scored a team-high four tries.
But Kondrat also typified the frustrating final that got away from Cal, as he knocked on a second-half kickoff that got lost in the late-day sun. It was one of several turnovers that hampered Cal's attack and drained time off the clock to prevent the Bears from mounting a last-ditch effort after Paul Bosco's second try and Russell Webb's conversion brought the Blue and Gold to within two points before the final whistle.
Rugby East Latest - Army, PSU, WJUPaced by three tries from Chris Burian Penn State defeated the University at Buffalo 57-17 in Rugby East play. Penn State improved to 2-1 and gained a little on first-place Kutztown, which had no league game this weekend. For Buffalo, it’s now an 0-3 record but Coach Mike Hodgins said he was looking for his team to fix mistakes as they went through the season. Unfazed by the losses, Hodgins has called this move up to DIA to be a learning experience, and is looking for his team to improve. It’s been a learning experience for other teams, too. Iona is one.
Arkansas State Wins at Davenport
Arkansas State University defeated Davenport University Friday night in two non-conference games - A-side and B-side.
With 11 guys injured and unavailable and could not make the trip, ASU needed a lot of young players to step up to the challenge and fill in the vacuum left by veteran varsity players such as Alex Goff, Harry Higgins, Connor Cook, Zach Allen who were injured, including some that were just unavailable due to other family commitments.
Head Coach Delaibatiki was not available to take the players up to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and so the reins were given to former All American standout and now Assistant Coach, Shaun Potgieter.
Four Major DII Clashes Settle Scores
October 11 was a game of some big matchups in men’s DII college rugby.
In four divisions, two undefeated teams face off, with some interesting results.
St. Louis, ranked #14 by Goff Rugby Report, was undefeated in the Gateway and played undefeated Principia, ranked #19. One clue to how this game would pan out came in the standings, where SLU had earned bonus points for four tries in every game, whereas the Thunder Chickens barely edged most of their opponents. There would be no edging this time, as SLU won 68-0.
Roger Williams (#23) is now alone atop the Colonial Coast Conference with a victory over previously undefeated Salve Regina (#26). Meanwhile, in the WIIL, 4-0 UW-Whitewater (#4) and 4-0 UW-Stout (#20) faced off, with Whitewater won 53-5.
AIC Beats BC in Clash of Unbeaten
American International College put their stamp on the ECRC with a 30-17 defeat of Boston College, the only other undefeated team in the conference.
It was wet and muddy, and the conditions proved challenging for offenses early on, and the score was only 7-5 at halftime. BC got on the board first with a try from Will Hock. But AIC answered with a try from Christian Adams, converted by fullback Bryce Neff.
BC almost scored at the break, and that might have changed momentum.
“It was a really good, really competitive game,” said AIC Head Coach Josh Macy. “It was physical and played with a lot of emotion. We had a tough time in the first half because it was so muddy. But in the second half the footing was better and I think that helped us. We scored our second try, a fantastic team try, and that gave us confidence.”
Kutztown Downs Maryland
Paced by four tries from Hawaiian product and former HS All American Nu’u Aiava, Kutztown defeated Maryland 48-20 in a non-conference game between two highly-ranked teams.
The Bears put intense defensive pressure on the Terps, and that left flyhalf Ben Cima with little option but to kick. The problem was, he kicked to the Kutztown backline, and they punished the Terrapins throughout the first half, with Aiava doing much of the damage with his speed and shifty running. Back from injury, Alex Faison-Donahoe scored a try, captain Trent Huizenga, and Johan van Wyk also touched down.
Halftime the score was 43-6, with Maryland getting two penalty kicks from Cima.
Stony Brook Takes 1st in Empire
Stony Brook won the clash of undefeated teams in the Empire Rugby Conference as they defeated Kings Point 30-12 Friday evening.
Stony Brook started well in the early going and led 10-0 before Kings Point scored to make it 10-7. But Stony Brook pulled away with two tries to make it 17-7.
Kings Point closes it up again at 17-12 before two more scored from the Seawolves made it 27-12 at halftime.
The second half was a completely different story, as Kings Point had much the better of the territory and possession. But despite having plenty of scoring opportunities, including repeated scrums at the Stony Brook five-meter line, a penalty close-in, and a seeming sure try knocked on at the line, they couldn’t get the try.
Sooners Comfortable Over Texas
The University of Oklahoma Sooners impressively pushed aside the Texas Longhorns to move to 3-0 in the DIA Red River Conference Friday in Dallas.
The final score was 45-24, but it wasn’t really that close as Oklahoma led 38-3 in the second half before Texas made a late run.
The game was tight early on as Colton Grantham scored a try for Oklahoma and Texas answered with a penalty. About midway through the first half, the Sooners started to pull away, with Grant Clancy scoring twice in quick succession.
Trevon Barnes galloped 50 meters to make it 26-3, and then Manny Soto and Michael Al-Jiboori scored and it was 38-3.
Texas scored three tries late, while Soto scored a second, but the game was secure by then.
OU is now 3-0 in the Red River while Texas falls to 2-1.
Clemson Dominant to go 4-0
Clemson defeated North Carolina 69-0 in emphatic fashion Friday evening in a lightning-delayed game.
The Tigers moved to 4-0 in the Atlantic Coast Rugby League (ACRL) and will be in first when the weekend is done as Maryland does not have a league game this weekend.
James Rippert got the Tigers going just two minutes in, and after Aaron Keers converted, the fullback punished the Tar Heels for an overthrown lineout, racing 80 meters to touch down. The Tigers got their third try at 19 minutes after they stole the ball, and quick-tapped on a penalty. Max Simons was on the end of the passes to make it 21-0 with the Keers conversion.
Moments later Clemson worked it nicely back into UNC territory and Andrew Dommel dove over into the corner to make it 28-0.
Keers hit a penalty just before halftime, making it 31-0 at the break.
This Weekends Picks
In this column Alex Goff makes picks on this weekend's DI Men's College games.
Alex was 28-11 last week.
The big games are Oklahoma v Texas, AIC v BC, and Stony Brook v Kings Point. Matyland at Kutztown is a non-conference game, but another with rankings implications.
