U. San Diego Defeats Arizona State in Arizona State
U. San Diego Defeats Arizona State in Arizona State
Despite the loss of a couple of teams the Gold Coast Conference is still up and running and active, with University of San Diego and Claremont Colleges looking like early favorites.
Behind a player-of-the-game effort from Joey Varcoe USD beat Arizona State 40-26 this past weekend. Los Toreros lost talismanic No. 8 Michael Ramos to injury just 10 minutes into the game. Varcoe was called on to replace him much, much earlier than expected and was exceptional, scoring a try and making a massive impact.
“The first match of the league season is always a big test," said USD Director of Rugby Kevin Easton. "ASU is a top side and we knew they would fight for 80 minutes. This match gave us the opportunity to display our depth, which I feel is the best we have had in the last 10 years. We have guys coming off the bench who can provide a massive impact, and that showed today.”
That dept has been bolstered by some talented recruits. The matchday 23 featured four players from Northern California's De La Salle (who ended last season ranked #3 among school teams by GRR) and three players from the OC Raptors (ended last year #5 among HS clubs as ranked by GRR).
Lock Dustin Braun scored two tries for USD and wing Nate Leff bagged two also, while ASU fullback Devin Rivet kept ASU close with a couple of impressive tries.
Next up USD will be at Mira Costa College, which made the NCR D2 playoffs in the fall and now enters into this multi-divisional Gold Coast (small college Claremont Colleges, 2022 spring ACR D2 winners Norco, and DIAA teams such as USD, UCSD, and Arizona State are all in the conference). Mira Costa is expected to be a tough out.
Norco, meanwhile, already recorded a 59-14 defeat of UC San Diego (not to be confused with the above University of South Dakota). Arizona State next visits Claremont Colleges in just over two weeks.
