Mount St. Mary's produced their second straight solid result against well-regarded opponents, this time winning a Rugby East Conference clash with rivals Mary Washington 33-20.
It was a strong showing from Mount, who have a good rivalry with UMW but are a bit more experienced this year.
"We're blessed," said Jay Myles, which is a typical thing for him to say. "We've got a lot of experienced players who are in leadership positions and who serve as mentors for us. And we also have a bunch of talented freshmen who are eager to learn and willing to be mentored, which is really important."
MSM ran out to a 22-3 lead at halftime and everything seemed to be ticking over nicely. But they may have eased off just as Mary Washington made some adjustments, and as a result UMW was able to close the gap.
"We felt we did pretty well but we also had a lot of opportunities for us to grow in this game," said Myles, who added praise for his opponents and their new Head Coach, Andrew Spencer. "UMW came to play and Andrew is doing a great job for them. For us, in the first half our ball-handling was working really well. In the second half I think we lost a bit of focus and Mary Washington are so tenacious."
Off the bench freshman Jack Lamotta was a powerful presence who raised the energy.
"He has really embraced our system," added Myles.
