POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (March 23, 2013) - This was the first home game of the spring and returning from the Spain Tour with a 1-1 record there was an air of confidence surrounding the team. But on a cold and windy day at the Farm it was probably one of the worst performances from a Vassar team in years! Players fell off so many tackles they rather resembled a Spanish matador as the Molloy runners were ushered past. Molloy took full advantage and ran in 7 tries against the porous Vassar defense. The Brewers did manage 4 tries of their own but they were well and truly crushed by the Long Island school.

Vassar College Men 20 v 43 Molloy College Men

Tries: Alan Kenney (1), Roman Kopit (1), Jerry Dieudonne (1), and Stoddard Meigs (1).

Rarely has a Vassar team missed so many straight forward one on one tackles. They further compounded the situation by struggling to put together any phases of play when they had the ball. When they did manage some continuity they scored tries and even after a poor first 40 minutes the score was still close as Molloy led just 12-10.

In the opening 10 minutes they committed 3 penalties, lost 2 of their own lineouts, turned the ball over 3 times at the ruck, missed 3 tackles, knocked the ball on 3 times, and missed a penalty kick to touch. To say that they were out of sorts would be putting it mildly! They did get a turnover at a tackle and took a scrum against the head but that just stemmed the tide as Molloy dominated field position.

From a Vassar lineout the ball was stolen in the maul by Molloy and they then punched around the ruck a couple of times before releasing it to the backs. Zach Kent slipped off his man in the tackle and fellow center Eli Vargas was stiff-armed aside, wing Ben Chipkin lunged in desperation, then Vassar's fullback Jesse Myhill was wrong footed, and finally covering wing Jerry Dieudonne missed the ball carrier. Five Vassar attempted tackles had failed and of course the Molloy player went in under the posts. So after 15 minutes or so Molloy must have been thinking this game is there for the taking whereas Vassar had done virtually nothing to feel good about.

Shaken the Vassar team did respond quickly. They won a lineout following a penalty kick to touch and when Molloy was penalized for not rolling away they ran a penalty play which resulted in Alan Kenney scoring in the corner. So the score was 7-5 to the visitors. Vassar caught the kick-off and rumbled down field and it seemed like they might find some consistency but a knock-on led to a Molloy scrum which thwarted matters. But the Vassar scrum was giving the Molloy team a real headache as the Brewers drove their opponents back in the set piece.

Molloy broke the Vassar line again when their number 10 ran around both Nick Graham and Eli Vargas in the 3 gap and but for a knock-on they would have scored. From that scrum Jonathan Chu picked up but was driven back in the tackle and the ball stolen. Another Vassar turnover! Molloy extended their lead when they broke a tackle and then kicked head gathering the loose ball. At 12-5 Vassar once again responded when Roman Kopit picked and dived in from close range and it was game-on at 12-10.

The second half began with some Vassar control but then Molloy kicked deep with the strong wind behind them. A penalty goal attempt was missed but from the ensuing 22-meter drop out the Molloy player who caught the ball was missed by Dieudonne, Brown, and Kopit before he offloaded and then Chu missed the try scorer. It was the ideal start for the visitors and they took a 17-10 lead. The irony was that Vassar was still just 1 converted try adrift and they had barely played any good rugby!

Molloy decided to keep kicking deep and it was effective as it turned out to be very difficult for Vassar to get out of their own 22.  When they tried to run it out they were turned over or gave away penalties and Molloy was only yards away from the goal-line. From a tap penalty they plunged over and it was a killer score at 24-10. Vassar had hung around but now the margin was widening. A further 3 tries as a result of sloppy tackling put Molloy out of sight even though Vassar managed 2 of their own from Dieudonne and Meigs.

A renewed hunger for the physicality of the game is essential if Vassar is to improve on this performance.


Team: 15 Jesse Myhill 14 Jerry Dieudonne 13 Zach Kent 12 Eli Vargas 11 Ben Chipkin 10 Nick Graham 9 Karl Foley 1 Jehan Shams 2 Alex Voynow 3 Dan Flynn 4 Roman Kopit 5 Louis Khourey 6 Matt Brown 7 Alan Kenney 8 Jonathan Chu. Subs: Zach Rippe for Louis Khourey, Eric Quinson for Matt Brown, Stoddard Meigs for Eli Vargas.



Next: Saturday 30 March, 2013 Vassar College Men at Columbia University Men kick-off 2:00 p.m.