A Little Alma Mater Pride

Its been a long time since my college hay day, but I have to be a bit prideful. No, not from the 3-6 football team, or from this exhibition disaster by the basketball team...but from the rugby team I used to be a part of. Specifically, this story. Syracuse is only the 2nd team in the history of the Upstate NY Division 1 Rugby League to qualify for the USA Rugby National Sweet 16 Championships in California. This is a huge accomplishment. I'll be headed up there this weekend for our annual rugby alumni pilgrimage, where we play each other (alumni vs college team). For the first time, I think the college team has a chance at winning. We'll see!

Posted in: College
By Brian Lowe
Nov 14, 2009 - 2:22:34 PM

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In what is unquestionably one of the biggest upsets in years in college rugby, Syracuse has stunned Dartmouth 6-5 in the Northeast Rugby Union semifinals Saturday at West Point, NY.

The Big Green led 5-0 at halftime, but a couple of second half penalty goals proved to be enough to get the Hammerheads home.

Syracuse went into the semi as the underdog, but as a consequence of their win, they have qualified for the national Round of 16 for the first time ever.

Constant rain caused a string of handling errors and there were a slew of penalties, although in the end Dartmouth’s focus was off and that is primarily what led to their downfall.

“Syracuse was the better team on the day,” Dartmouth head coach Alex Magleby told ARN. “They made the right adjustments and we didn’t adjust too well.”

Syracuse will face the winner of the late semifinal between Army and Fordham in Sunday’s NRU championship decider.

NRU men’s DII semis:
Vermont 15-10 UMass
Middlebury 11-0 Stonybrook

NRU women’s DI semis:
Brown 26-10 UMass
Army 46-0 Syracuse

Elsewhere on the east coast, Delaware capped off a perfect run in the Mid-Atlantic Premier League by dropping Virginia 38-3.

UD led 12-3 at the main break. Delaware captain and #8 Mike ‘Chief’ Levin (3) again led by example.

UVA had to scramble to find an alternative field due to the heavy storms that lashed the coast late in the week and eventually a multi-purpose field was secured for the game.

UD’s support play was exceptional on the day, as it has been all season long, and that is what paved the way to the win.

“It was a good game for the guys and a nice way to end the regular season,” said Delaware head coach Bjorn Haglid.

“We went through undefeated and now it’s about getting ready for Kutztown in March.”

In the Friday night match, Penn State held off a late charge by Navy to post a 20-10 victory in Annapolis, MD.

It was 13-10 at halftime to PSU and the Nittany Lions did a good job on the positional play aspect of their game in the second half to hold on for the win.

“It’s always a tough game,” Penn State head coach Don Ferrell told ARN. “I thought it was a pretty good performance by our guys.”

As a result of the final round of the regular season in the Premier League, Delaware finished on top of the standings ahead of Penn State, Navy and Kutztown.

The MARFU championship will be played next March with the two top finishers going through to the national playoffs.