Northwestern, Loyola, Set Table for Meeting Next Week
Northwestern, Loyola, Set Table for Meeting Next Week
Loyola and Northwestern both won in the Great Midwest to move to 4-0.
Loyola won big over Illinois-Chicago, taking the game 62-10.
For Northwestern, they took on University Chicago, a team that lost to Loyola by a single point.
So how would the Wildcats fair?
It was almost as close, with Northwestern edging Chicago 14-12.
Clearly the defense was a big part of this game.
"The defense has mostly been a team effort," said Northwestern Rugby club president Conlan Harrington. "We're working to improve within a system so it's a collective effort."
It was defense that led to a key try when hooker Ethan Hawes nabbed an interception and took it to the house That was a huge play.
Now at 4-0 Northwestern is in good shape to get into the Great Midwest D2 playoffs.
"We are just focusing on building off the matches we have played to get better performances week over week," added Harrington. "We've got a lot to work on from the weekend and we didn't play great, But we're glad to have another match left on the schedule to try and put some of those learnings back on the pitch before playoffs begin."
That game is, of course, Loyola at Northwestern. That game will decide who is 1st in the Great Midwest South.
Marquette's big win on Friday over Wisconsin- Whitewater secured 2nd in the North for them. So our top four is Northern Iowa, Marquette, Loyola, and Northwestern. We just don't have the matchups yet.
| GMW North | W | L | T | PA | PA | PD | BT | BL | Pts |
| Northern Iowa | 3 | 0 | 0 | 211 | 43 | 168 | 3 | 0 | 15 |
| Marquette | 3 | 1 | 0 | 139 | 60 | 79 | 3 | 0 | 15 |
| Illinois State | 1 | 2 | 0 | 57 | 75 | -18 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| UW-Whitewater | 1 | 2 | 0 | 58 | 166 | -108 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| UW-Milwaukee | 0 | 3 | 0 | 36 | 157 | -121 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GMW South | W | L | T | PA | PA | PD | BT | BL | Pts |
| Loyola | 4 | 0 | 0 | 134 | 53 | 81 | 4 | 0 | 20 |
| Northwestern | 4 | 0 | 0 | 147 | 27 | 120 | 3 | 0 | 19 |
| Univ. Chicago | 2 | 2 | 0 | 139 | 57 | 82 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| Benedictine | 1 | 3 | 0 | 59 | 125 | -66 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| DePaul | 1 | 3 | 0 | 47 | 121 | -74 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| UIC | 0 | 4 | 0 | 83 | 122 | -39 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
