Cal Beats Saint Mary's to Win WC 7s at Cal Poly
Cal Beats Saint Mary's to Win WC 7s at Cal Poly
Cal won the West Coast Collegiate 7s tournament hosted by Cal Poly Saturday, with the Bears' two sides going a combined 6-1.
The more experienced Cal side, playing as Cal while the younger team played as Bears, made the final against Saint Mary's, winning the game 31-14 thanks in large part to three tries in the final five minutes.
The only loss for the Bears was to those same Saint Mary's Gaels, a 24-14 loss in the semifinal.
Cal and the Gaels then went head-to-head in the Cup Final. In a gritty first half, the two teams traded tries over the seven minutes, with Cal pulling ahead 14-7 at the intermission. Saint Mary's closed it to 14-14 early in the second half but then Cal ran in tries from Alex Aguero, Max Clark, and Caleb Tomasin to put the game away.
Aguero and Oliver Newall were the top try-scorers for Cal; Aguero was named tournament MVP.
“There are always interesting lessons on offer from competition,” Cal Head Coach Jack Clark said. “My sense is the team is both pleased to win and also keenly aware of the list of things we need to improve to be at our best. It will be good to be back on the training paddock and intentional about our development.”
Cal Poly had a good tournament, beating San Diego State and Cal State Long Beach to make the semis before losing to Cal 24-7. CSULB won the Plate, beating UC Santa Barbara 34-5 in the Plate Final. UCLA had a bit of an iffy day, going 1-1 in pool play and seeing UCSB edging them 22-15 in the Plate semifinal.
San Diego State went 0-2 in pool play but got by Sacramento State 31-10 and then beat USC 29-5 to win the Bowl.
