Oliver Seitchik charges through contact for Miami. Photo Kaileigh Hennard.
Author: Alex Goff
Men's D2 college rugby saw two notable preseason results with Northern Iowa and Miami of Ohio both registering well-taken victories.
Miami took on IUP and won 39-10. The influence of the work the program has been doing with Crusaders Global is pretty clear. Two players went to the Crusaders Global Academy in New Zealand over the Southern hemisphere winter.
One of those players, lock Oliver Seitchik, was named Man of the Match.
"You know, the Crusaders Global partnership kind of fell in our laps and absolutely it's had an influence on our improvement," said Miami Head Coach Killan Mulkern. "I spent my own money to go down there for the coaching course, but now it's developed into a partnership with them coming here for us and our players going down there. Oliver had the best game I have ever seen him play."
Center Jack Kendall, flanker Michael Krebs, center Gabe Cofer, prop Nick Stanis, flyhalf Joe MacBride, and wing Eliot Coutelen all scored tries for Miami.
But it wasn't really a runaway. IUP scored first and led 5-0 into the 35th minute before two tries from Miami put them up 12-5 at the break. It was still close into the final 20 minutes when Miami ran in four tries to put the game away.
"We knew we had to play well throughout the game and couldn't let up," said Mulkern. "And we saw our conditioning really help us."
IUP wins a ruck and has to deal with a solid Miami defense. Photo Kaileigh Hennard.
Notable on the day was the halfback combination of Lance Yoder and Joe MacBride. Yoder was drafter into starting at scrumhalf because Hayden Voth had returned from New Zealand with a slight injury. MacBride was also in because of injury, Having just played the game for about 10 months, he showed a veteran's decision-making in the #10 jersey, and scored a try.
Meanwhile, Northern Iowa got on the field with a fairly new-look team and came away with an impressive shutout win over Nebraska.
The key, said Head Coach Zeus Ramirez, was to get minutes for newer players and they accomplished that. These two teams met up in an opener last year and Nebraska won 45-41. But this time it was all UNI, with Northern Iowa winning 61-0.
UNI scored in the opening minutes but Nebraska settled it down for the next several minutes, and were even on the attack in UNI's half. However, a turnover and a long-range break produced a try for the Panthers, and a few minutes later they scored again.
UNI's continuity, unity, and fitness saw them through.
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He also played in the SoCal single-school league for Cathedral Catholic.
Hope Rogers began playing rugby at age 16 in high school and continued to compete during her time at Penn State University. There, she won four National Championships, was crowned MVP on two occasions, was named to the USA Under-20s and earned Collegiate All-American honors for four years. Rogers was also an impressive discus player during her senior year in high school where she broke a school record and won Gold at Districts for the sport.
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Ray Santiago has emerged as one of RPI’s most influential forwards, a player whose size, athleticism, and rapid development make him stand out in the Division II landscape.
Christy Ringgenberg is one of the most accomplished and versatile players to wear the USA jersey, earning recognition on the Goff Rugby Report All-Time American list for her impact on both 15s and 7s.
