DUBLIN, IRELAND (March 12, 2010) -- Although the scoreline did not reflect the effort and tenacity of the Vassar College men's rugby team, the Brewers put forth a valiant effort in a 31-8 loss to Dublin City University on Friday. This was a performance to rival previous tour battles such as Vassar's win in Buenos Aires or the victory in Paris against The Sorbonne. The scoreline does not reflect the effort and tenacity of these Brewers but all who witnessed the game will verify that it was a Titanic struggle.

Vassar College Men 8 v Dublin City University Men 31
Tries: Adam Steel(1).
Pens: Jake London (1).
The Vassar Men's game followed the women's contest and perhaps it was the VC win that motivated the lads or maybe it was just being outside for the first time on grass, in any event they played with confidence and courage for the full 80 minutes.

Early on DCU dominated territory but time and again the defense held. Even with numbers to spare at times the swiftness of the inside backs recovered to bring down ball carriers. Vassar aso had to deal with the loss of captain Stefan Schwartz who hurt his left shoulder. DCU jumped ahead 5-0 before Vassar pulled back some of the differential to make it 5-3 as Jake London cooly slotted a penalty.

DCU were comfortable with ball in hand but the Vassar defenders got organized surprizingly well given their lack of match practice and continued to thwart the attacks. Zack Kent playing on the right wing performed some heroics as he tackled, ran, and stole ball. James Purtle was also rock solid with his tackles. Although DCU scored 2 more tries in the next 30 minutes they were made to work hard and go through multiple phases generally. DCU did have a couple of silky runners and they would have danced through many a defense on any day.

Up front at prop Barrington Archer and Tyler Blake faired well and the freshmen lock combination ofIan Ruginski and Joe Karpman provided a strong solid platform. Karpman injured his shoulder and will probably be out for 10 days along with Stefan Schwartz.

At the half it was 17-3 but Vassar had done very well in the lineouts and with both Iain Gordon and Ian Ruginski pulling down clean ball. The Brewers were very much in this contest. Another try made it 24-3 and then Vassar flanker Adam Steel squeezed over after some great team approach work. Vassar might have had a second try right at the end as they hammered at the DCU goal line but it was not to be.

Vassar travels to Cork tomorrow and has a couple of days off before playing at Kinsale next week. The college can be extremely proud of this performance against a DCU team that plays as a unit each week. DCU has an "A" and a "B" side and Vassar played the "B" side today.

Team: 15 Jake London 14 Zach Kent 13 Stefan Schwartz 12 James Purtle 11 Nic Placeres 10 Connor O'Neill 9 Kris Adkins 1 Tyler Blake 2 Kevin Frodell 3 Barrington Archer 4 Ian Ruginski 5 Joe Karpman 6 CJ LeSueur 7 Adam Steel 8 Iain Gordon Subs: Russell Webner for Stefan Schwartz, Conor Boylan for Kris Adkins, Hal Moore for Barrington Archer, Andrew Massey for Joe Karpman, Brett Anker for Nic Placeres, Dan Zabar for Tyler Blake.

Next: Tuesday March 16, 2010 at Kinsale Men KO 7:30 p.m.
Overall record 2009-10: 2-6-1.