Molloy College, Sacred Heart, and Vassar are all 2-0 in the Tri-State Conference after all three won games over the weekend.

Vassar is 2-0 after beating one of the teams they might expect to challenge them in the Tri State Men’s DII conference, Siena, on Saturday.

Vassar got tries from Joe Simon, Dale Lord, Adam D’Agostino, Eli Vargas, and Zach Rippe in a 31-10 victory. 

“It was good to see some discipline in this second half as the team strove to implement their pattern,” said Coach Tony Brown, whose team is now 2-0 in conference play.

Also 2-0 is Sacred Heart, which beat Hofstra 56-33. It was a comfortable win for Sacred Heart, but they suffered three key injuries, and those players won’t be ready for Marist this coming weekend. Marist won their opening game 49-0 over SUNY New Paltz.  Joining Sacred Heart at 2-0 in the Tri-State is 

RPI bounced back from last week’s loss to Siena to beat Montclair State 53-12, while Marist won big over SUNY New Paltz 49-0. 

Meanwhile, Molloy moved to 2-0 after hammering Hofstra September 6 and then holding off New Jersey Institute of Technology 34-24 on Sunday.

For club president Steven Malinowski, the strong start comes from a strong buildup.

“Since most of the players on our team live in the surrounding area of Molloy College, we were lucky enough to capitalize on the opportunity to practice up to four times a week over the summer,” said Malinowski. 

Under the eye of Coach Thomas Malinowski and with some alumni working with them as well, the Molloy players got a grounding in the fundamentals and came into the fall in good rugby condition. Their August scrimmage against the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point was also useful.

“Even though we lost the scrimmage,” said Malinowski, “it allowed our team to realize that we want to compete at a higher level of rugby.”

Malinowski is co-captain of the squad and back from injury, as is the other co-captain, Matt Cooley. They bolster a squad that includes up-and-coming Justin Walsh and Kevin Bedard, who have emerged as leaders.

“We fine-tuned our backline and we have seen a tremendous improvement from previous years,” said Malinowski. “Centers Scott Jones and Andre Florent have been playing at an extremely high level.”