By Tony Brown
Head Coach

ALBANY, NY (October 16, 2007) -- Albany, New York is the capital city of the state and the Vassar men traveled there to take on the State University of New York at Albany. The home team is currently 7-0-2 and very likely headed to the playoffs so this would prove a stern test for the Brewers. In the opening minute Vassar fell behind 7-0 and a very fired up home team could have been forgiven for thinking that they would soon be 8-0-2. But the Vassar men had not sacrificed their fall break to spoil their unbeaten record.

Vassar College Men 44 v SUNY - Albany Men 19
Tries: Omar Fayyaz (1), Kaedin Jemiolo (1), Nick Mason (1), Chris Magnani (1), Luke Parker (1), Garrett King (2), Rupert Johnson (1).
Cons: Garrett Montgomery (2).

Just 60 seconds into the game the Vassar team was standing behind their try line watching a conversion sail through the posts and they were down 7-0. Captain Garrett King admonished his team for losing the first ruck and conceding the try. The try by Albany was quite simple as they won their scrum just 5 yards out and the number 8 ran through to score under the posts.

Vassar re-started and Albany kicked deep. It was a good ploy for the sun was directly in the eyes of the Vassar fullback Stefan Schwartz. He managed to gather the ball and Vassar scrambled back to help out. Albany picked and drove close to the ruck and was strong in the tackle, which made life difficult for Vassar.

But the Brewers started to put some phases together and worked their way down the field. Albany kicked to clear their lines but the ball did not find touch and covering right wing Omar Fayyaz took off and went around the defense on the left touch line to score and level the match at 7-7.

The remainder of the first half saw Vassar win a host of rucks producing very fast ball and it meant that the Albany defense could never get set. Chris Magnani delivered the ball swiftly and the forwards hardly took a backward step. Garrett King, Rupert Johnson, and Luke Parker ran hard and timed their runs well. Kaedin Jemiolo and Nick Mason scored good tries, the former in support of King, and soon it was 17-7.

There were other good signs as the scrum started to drive Albany back. Rubesin stole a couple against the head and even if Albany got the ball it was under intense pressure as the Vassar eight rumbled forward. Nick Mason was taking his lineout ball and Vassar was playing with confidence.

Chris Magnani went left following a Rubesin steal at a scrum and it was 22-7. The Brewers scored one more try in the first half as King went over and with Montgomery's second successful conversion it was 34-7.
Albany punched forward and from a ruck close to the Vassar line they scored so the teams turned around at 34-14.

The second half saw the teams play a much more even affair. Albany scored first making it 34-19 but Vassar replied with 2 tries and the game finished 44-19.

Rupert Johnson and King scored the Vassar points as the Brewers rung the changes. Omar Fayyaz moved to flyhalf and later Conor Boylan went to scrumhalf. All the subs got a run out and the team still kept its shape. The changes meant that the finishing was less apparent but the Brewers never looked overly stretched.

This Sunday, Vassar face division leaders Columbia in New York City. This was a good warm-up but the Brewers should not be reading their own press. They will need a huge team performance if they are to defeat the Lyons and take the division.

Team: 15 Stefan Schwartz 14 Omar Fayyaz 13 Tom Szymanski 12 James Cantres 11 Garrett Montgomery 10 Conor Boylan 9 Chris Magnani 1 Winston Clement 2 Jeff Rubesin 3 Dan Kalmus 4 Nick Mason 5 Rupert Johnson 6 Luke Parker 7 Kaedin Jemiolo 8 Garret King.
Subs: Iain Gordon for Nick Mason, Martial Ntamatungiro for Chris Magnani, Kevin Frodell for Jeff Rubesin, Nick Schmidt for Tom Szymanski, Rhys Bambrick for Dan Kalmus, Aly Massoud for Kaedin Jemiolo.

Overall record 2007-08:7-0-0.

Next weekend: Sunday October 21, 2007 at Columbia University kickoff 1:00 pm.