POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (September 26, 2010) – The Vassar College men's rugby team ran through cross-river rival SUNY New Paltz 47-7 for their second straight MET NY Rugby Union victory Sunday afternoon at the Farm.

The Brewers improve to 2-1 and will battle Seton Hall University on the road Sunday, October 3, at 1:00 p.m.

This may sound harsh but I never in my wildest dreams expected to write the name Barrington Archer and two tries in any sentence, let alone the same one! The Vassar junior ran amok and scored two tries as Vassar 7 tries to rout local rivals New Paltz. Barrington's father was there to see his son play for the first time and was thrilled to bits. We will be inviting him to all games in the future!

There were plenty of tries in this game but to be honest the standard of play was not high. There were far too many knock-ons, mistakes, and penalties from both teams and it meant a very stop-start affair.

Centers James Purtle and Nic Placeres managed to get over the gain line which was good but consistency of execution was not there today for the Brewers as a whole. A forward pass here, a knock-on, and then a penalty for offside would mean lost field position or an opportunity lost. Interspersed with these errors there were tries. The aforementioned Archer rumbled forward with his first try being a pick and flop over the goal line. His second, much later in the game, came from him charging forward carrying tacklers as he went over. Both scores were followed by the biggest of smiles and warm applause from the considerable crowd present.

New Paltz exerted some good pressure and Vassar held out but eventually some good work from the visitors paid dividends and it was 14-7.

So Vassar led 14-7 when James Purtle made a good line break. He threw an absurd pass that went to ground but the bounce favored Vassar and as the ball traveled in-goal Zach Wasser was there to collect 5-points. Another Vassar try from Iain Gordon meant that it was a 26-7 lead at the half.

The one area where Vassar was consistently dominant was at the set scrum. They pushed and bullied New Paltz stealing some ball and disrupting them.

The second half bore witness to 3 tries to keep the crowd happy. C.J. Le Sueur took the ball from 15 yards out at a penalty and made amends for last week by scoring! That man Archer scored his second and Nic Placeres went around the outside with James Purtle kicking his 6th conversion of the day from the touchline.

Vassar College 47 v SUNY-New Paltz 7
Tries: James Purtle (1), Barrington Archer (2), Zach Wasser (1), Iain Gordon (1), C.J. Le Sueur (1), Nic Placeres (1).
Cons: James Purtle (6).

Team: 15 Brett Anker 14 Kendall Coleman 13 Nic Placeres 12 James Purtle 11 Zach Wasser 10 Dillon Tyksinski 9 Garrett Montgomery 1 Joe Karpman 2 Hal Moore 3 Barrington Archer 4 Tyler Blake 5 C. J. LeSueur 6 Ian Ruginski 7 Adam Steel 8 Iain Gordon. Subs: Andrew Massey for Iain Gordon, Karl Foley for Zach Wasser.

Vassar College "B Side" 15 v SUNY-New Paltz "B Side" 10
Tries: Jehan Shams (2) & Andrew Jdaydani (1).

This was a massive win for the Vassar "B" team players. For the first time in about 15 years Vassar had 6 substitutes for this game. There are some very promising youngsters and good athletes who will likely be regular "A" side players sooner rather than later.

After about 10 minutes Vassar center Akeel St. Vil came up on defense and in what can only be described as a cataclysmic collision he stopped the New Paltz attack but had sustained a broken jaw! But the Vassar backs didn't skip a beat and with rookie Rob Rooney playing his first game at flyhalf the Brewers kept up the pressure. Rooney is a scraper and a real competitor. He ducked, weaved, and bounced like a pinball always asking questions of the defense.

Vassar first try was scored by Jehan Shams. The prop forward was obviously inspired by Barrington Archer's "A" side exploits and he ran well to give Vassar the lead. He also scored Vassar's second try. The Vassar forwards superior rucking was the edge in this close game. They managed to get some quick ball whereas New Paltz was far too static.

Freshman Andrew Jdaydani came on at the half and when Jerry Dieudonne made a big run down the left wing he was on hand to take the ball on. It was a precursor to the try that sealed the win. Vassar ran the ball from their own 22 and Jdaydani broke a couple of tackles before taking it to the house.

The team did a great job of working together and with consistency at practice they can only get stronger.

Team: 15 Mike Ilardi 14 Jonah Orr 13 Akeel St. Vil 12 Karl Foley 11 Hayden Moon 10 Rob Rooney 9 Kris Adkins 1 Jehan Shams 2 Brian Carvajal 3 Zac Hays 4 Brandon Greene 5 Jonathan Chu 6 Sam Thomas 7 Alan Kenney 8 Matt Elisofon. Subs: Zach Beauchamp for Akeel St. Vil, Jerry Dieudonne for Hayden Moon, Evan Obligin for Karl Foley, Nik Goldberg for Jonathan Chu, Parker Reeves for Alan Kenney, Andrew Jdaydani for Brian Carvajal.