By Tony Brown
Head Coach

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (September 30, 2007) -- In their third divisional game of this fall season the Vassar College men did enough to earn their win but it was strangely unconvincing. There were some very good spells of play but more often than not an infringement or penalty would halt a scoring opportunity. Still it was better to be on the credit side of the ledger at the end of the day and the Brewers can take some solace from that fact.

Vassar College Men 22 v Fairfield University Men 17
Tries: Garrett King (1), Chris Magnani (2).
Cons: Garrett Montgomery (2).
Pens: Garrett Montgomery (1).

The temperatures were in the low seventies and the conditions ideal for an open running game. The referee was an exchange referee from England who also had the services of Mark Kenny and Jack Dibble of the Rugby Referees Society of New York who ran touch. The game was well handled and both teams can have no complaints. Vassar scored 3 tries but failed to get a fourth that would have earned them a bonus point. Fairfield was rewarded for their late try and thus gained a bonus point for keeping the score within seven points.

The first half saw Vassar dominate territory and they came close to scoring three times. But all they had to show for their efforts after 30 minutes was a 3-point lead from a Garrett Montgomery penalty. Eventually, Garrett King nipped over and it was 8-0. But Fairfield struck back after a good lineout drive and it was 8-5.

Vassar fullback Stefan Schwartz was tested with some awkward kicks and a couple of line breaks but he passed with flying colors. One tackle just 10 yards or so from the Vassar line would have made Christian Bruckhart smile as the Fairfield inside center was dumped without ceremony. Conor Boylan too was varying his game with direct runs and distribution of passes. So at the half it was 8-5.

Vassar's Chris Magnani scored the next try when he ran between two defenders on the narrow side and now Vassar had a cushion at 15-5. The Brewers added another Magnani try for a 22-5 lead before Fairfield staged something of a comeback. The question on peoples minds was had Vassar squandered too many opportunities that would have put this game beyond Fairfield's reach? Two tries at the very end made the score an uncomfortable 22-17 but time ran out for the visitors.

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: Kevin Frodell for Jeff Rubesin, Mario-Arthur-Bentil for Rupert Johnson, Iain Gordon for Kaedin Jemiolo.

Overall record 2007-08: 4-0-0.
Next weekend: Sunday October 7, 2007 at Sacred Heart kickoff 1:00 pm.