Marist College won the Tri-State Conference 7s this past weekend, garnering a spot - if they can make it - at the Men's DII College 7s Championships in Cary, NC, and perhaps surprising themselves a little bit.

Two weeks before, Marist has played in a warmup tournament at Vassar and had lost every game. it was a wakeup call for the team, and certainly anyone would have been forgiven for expecting little from Marist on the weekend.

But with some hard work and the addition of a couple of players, Marist blossomed over the weekend.

"We play a good, collective game of rugby," said Coach Evan Menist. "These guys have a pretty high rugby IQ, and they didn't get rattled."

That was a good thing, since in every game, except the final, they had to come back to win. Marist defeated Molloy, Siena, and Seton Hall in pool play, coming back to win each time.

"We know that anything can happen in 7s," said Menist. "And it did seem we started flat, but we have veterans, guys who have been in tournaments before, and our motto is, Marist Rugby - we don't stop. So I knew the guys would play to the end."

In the semis Marist got by SUNY New Paltz to face Vassar in the final.

For their part, Vassar beat Hofstra, RPI, and Union in Pool Play, and William Paterson in the semis. Eli Vargas led the team with seven tries and eight conversions in those games.

In the final, finally Marist led early and was in front 12-7 at halftime. Despite two more tries and two more conversions from Vargas (65 points in five games for Vargas), Marist took the game 24-14.

"It was a pleasant surprise," said Menist. "They are our crosstown rivals - it's always good to play Vassar. We just decided to go out there and play, and that's what we did."

Among the leading players for Marist was Owen Diaz, who was an impact player off the bench, and Frank Amoresano, one of the senior leaders on the team. Rhys-Gregory Henry was a monster in the tackle, and Mke Vassallo opened up space for everyone, playing an excellent flyhalf.