Brown, AIC Lead Liberty D1
Brown, AIC Lead Liberty D1
LIberty's NCR D1 league continues to be an intriguing conference as some teams found out this week.
Rivalry Clash
Iona were defeated by nearby rivals Fairfield 23-13 in what Fairfield DOR Austin Ryan called "an absolute dog fight against a bitter rival."
Both teams have suffered from injuries but that didn't mean they would be hesitant to get stuck in.
Iona took a 13-8 lead into halftime thanks to a huge game from senior captain and center Chris Gunta, who is an NCR All American. Gunta scored a try as did freshman wing Luke Rinkin.
Yacube Traore crossed the tryline for Iona and in the second half Hamish Goonan's try was a good answer to Gunta's seocnd penalty goal to make it 16-13.
The game stuck at that scoreline until the the final play, when center Pat Burke scored to ice the game against the team his father, Paul, coaches.
"It was a phenomenal game," said Ryan.
Siena found the winning formula, beating Syracuse 43-8, rebounding after a couple of tough losses to Brown and AIC.
AIC Liberty's Cardiac Kids
AIC has won two games by razor-thing margins so Sunday's game against Dartmouth had to feel almost comfortable at 29-24. Down 7-3 at halftime the Yellow Jackets took the momentum with a long-range try from Kahanu Koi and then a turnover from Ivan Rossi to set up Koi for his second.
The Big Green responded with a try from Jamie Phillips but a snappy run from German Rossi weaved his way over for a try that he converted for a 24-14 lead. Five minutes later Rossi was in the middle of the action again. His penalty kick attempt clanged off the post but the AIC chasers regained the ball with Jo Roberts alertly scoring in the corner to make it 29-14.
And they needed that try as Dartmouth stormed back with Phillips scoring his second and third tries in the final moments. Both tries were touched down near the touchline so the conversions were tough to make, and they were missed. AIC held on 29-24 to go to 3-0.
Brown Still Leads the Way
In their first Rugby encounter against an Ivy League opponent this season, Brown shut out the Harvard Crimson 78-0. The match, hosted at Mignone Stadium under cool and windy conditions, saw the Brown team maintain control throughout the game, entering halftime with a commanding 38-0 lead.
Garett Mann led the charge with four tries, while Santiago Cortabarria added another two. Contributions were also significant from Asa Rosenmeier, St John Smith, Cameron McAlpine, Antonio Esteves, Marco Lapierre, and Tito Edjua. Edjua, a standout as a freshman last season and in his first match this season, was an attacking threat as an impact reserve
Raphael Lansonneur successfully slotted 9 of 12 conversion attempts
"We preach discipline at the breakdown and defensive assertiveness and both were on display tonight from start to finish," said Brown Head Coach David LaFlamme. "To get to 78 points, eight different players scored our 12 tries. Of those eight, four were forwards and four were backs. That really demonstrates how balanced and versatile we are and want to continue to be across all 15 positions."
This report was edited from Brown's UReportNow AI-produced game report, which was produced in part by Brown simply uploading their scoresheet. This is an efficient way for your team, club, school, or conference to produce weekly game reports and other written content in a short amount of time. Email us to find out more>>
That report includes this video
Here are the standings so far (Liberty D1 uses the close-loss bonus point but not the four-try bonus point):
| Liberty D1 | W | L | T | PA | PA | PD | BL | Pts |
| Brown | 3 | 0 | 0 | 220 | 11 | 209 | 0 | 12 |
| AIC | 3 | 0 | 0 | 70 | 61 | 9 | 0 | 12 |
| Dartmouth | 2 | 1 | 0 | 132 | 47 | 85 | 1 | 9 |
| Siena | 1 | 2 | 0 | 86 | 65 | 21 | 1 | 5 |
| Fairfield | 1 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 19 | 9 | 1 | 5 |
| Fordham | 1 | 1 | 0 | 33 | 33 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Iona | 1 | 2 | 0 | 41 | 108 | -67 | 0 | 4 |
| Harvard | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 95 | -85 | 0 | 0 |
| Syracuse | 0 | 3 | 0 | 31 | 202 | -171 | 0 | 0 |
