William Paterson Takes Tri-State 7s

William Paterson University Men ran away with the Tri-State Conference 7s title in style and the New Jersey school collected their third consecutive conference 7s crown. Not only did WPU win the championship but their ferocious defense held all attackers at bay as they did not concede any points over their 3 pool games games, the quarterfinal, semifinal and final! Three championships now and this one with 6 shutouts. Hats off to the Pioneers on a very special weekend.

Watch The USA Rugby College 7s Championships LIVE on FloRugby May 24-26

Pool Play

Group A

William Paterson quickly dispatched Marist College B in the tournament opener 35-0 and rattled through SUNY-Oneonta 49-0 and Seton Hall 33-0. So the fight was for second place and it was the Hall that emerged as runner-up by virtue of a 10-5 win over Oneonta.

Group B

Hofstra University had reached the last 8 the previous year but they faced Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) who have been highly competitive recently in 15s. But the Hofstra Pride squeaked past the Engineers 12-5 and both advanced to the quarters.

Group C

This was the most competitive group as Marist jumped ahead 2-0 but the game with Drew University was close 24-21. The Monroe College Mustangs were well beaten in their first game but had arrived late to the field and with little warm-up time Drew put them away 28-7. Monroe surprised Marist upsetting last year's finalist 15-14 but the bonus point Marist earned saw them and Drew advance.

Group D

SUNY_New Paltz and Molloy College went through from this group but there were close fought games that might have gone the other way. Vassar lost a must win game against New Paltz 10-12 and missed the conversion at the end from right in front of the posts that would have earned them a tie. The deserved winner Molloy as they went undefeated in this group.

The entire day was officiated by the Rugby Referees Society of New York (RRSNY) and a host of Vassar volunteers, with most of them being members of the USA Rugby National Championship winning team. Thanks are due to all these young women and the cadre of referees.