The Queens University of Charlotte men's rugby team earned its first win of the season, defeating Iowa Central Community College 21-15.

It's been a challenging season for Queens, with three cancelations and three games against very high-level competition. They lost to Life University, the 2019 D1A champion, after leading at halftime, and they lost to another top D1A team in Army. But this week, against the fall 2019 D1AA champion, a team that beat the Royals in the 2018 fall DII semis, was an impressive victory.

Martin Pierce, Hilton Olivier, and Benji Hund each scored tries. Jack Williams added two penalty goals for the Royals.

The games, said Queens head Coach Frank McKinney, were " an opportunity for us to test our depth and to play a level higher than we have ever played. The field at Marian was beautiful and they were great hosts [and] ICCC is a very good team."

Iowa Central led 12-0 as Queens learned a harsh lesson about not completing tackles. But they rebounded even as the heavens opened up.

"Our boys composed themselves and came back," said McKinney. "During the second half it started raining harder than I have ever seen for a rugby game for about a ten minute period.  Both teams stayed composed and continued to play."

"I want to thank Frank and his boys for the match and of course Marian University for hosting," said Iowa Central Head Coach Brent Nelson. "It was an absolute battle. They really brought the pain but our boys stood firm. I knew they would keep pressing us with tactical kicking and I thought our back three handle the kicks well. The conditions were less than idea but that's the way rugby is."

Nelson said when his team got the ball out wide they were able to make meters, and did so early, but Queens did not give up.

"We didn't capitalize on a couple of occasions and that really cost us," said Nelson. "Frank is a class act and I have a lot of respect or gim. He is a great guy and genuinely cares about the sport."