POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (April 6, 2013) - In the Fall of 2011 Colgate capped a wonderful season defeating Fairfield University in the Regional Championship game hosted by Vassar College. No doubt they had fond memories of the Vassar Rugby Field and they jumped out to a quick 12-0 lead to shock the Brewers and silence the home crowd. Colgate are very focused, have some real speedsters out wide and were brimming with confidence having gone undefeated this past fall.


Vassar College Men 12  v 39 Colgate University Men
Tries: Roman Kopit (2).
Cons: Nick Graham (1).

Vassar was rocked early by 2 quick tries as the defense just came up a tad slowly and Colgate got the ball outside the final defender. At the 10 minute mark they led 12-0 and Vassar's right wing Jerry Dieudonne finally got his timing right to absolutely level the Colgate attacker. But the prior damage was done. It didn't help matters that just after the first try Vassar flanker Eric Quinson darted through and with the goal line just a couple of yards in front of him and right under the posts he just dropped the ball! It probably should have been 7-5 to Vassar.

The next 20 minutes bore witness to a hard hitting game with Vassar defending well and when the Brewers had the ball they worked their way into good field position. But Colgate too made their tackles and they had their tails up so when they did manage a couple of breaks they converted them into points. Two more tries saw the teams finish the half 24-5 following Roman Kopit's try for the home team.

Colgate scored 3 tries in the second half and Vassar managed another try, again from Kopit. Nick Graham slotted the conversion. The second forty minutes was much like the first with Vassar able to sustain some good periods of pressure but not turn it into points, whereas Colgate took their opportunities.

The Vassar men should not be discouraged by this result but rather take the positives from it and build on them. They defended well for good periods. They adjusted their defensive approach which yielded some stops and they got in another hard game that  may prove valuable if they head to nationals. Freshmen Zach Rippe and Louis Khourey did well as did Alan Hagins. In fact Hagins made a couple of try saving tackles and gave a good account of himself at fullback.

Team: 15 Alan Hagins 14 Jerry Dieudonne 13 Zach Kent 12 Akeel St. Vil 11 Ben Chipkin 10 Nick Graham 9 Karl Foley 1 Roman Kopit 2 Alex Voynow 3 Dan Flynn 4 Zach Rippe 5 Joe Karpman 6 Eric Quinson 7 Alan Kenney 8 Nic Placeres. Subs: Louis Khourey for Dan Flynn, Eli Vargas for Akeel St. Vil.

Next: Sunday April 14, 2013 Vassar College Men versus Marist College Men kick-off 11:00 a.m.
Overall 2012-13 record: 9-7-0.

Vassar College Men "B" 17 v 19 Colgate University Men "B"
Tries: Jake Sheehy (1), Stoddard Meigs (1), Kenta Hasui (1).
Cons: Stoddar Meigs (1).

This was just as close as the score suggests! Vassar fell behind in the first half but came storming back in the second period of play to just come up short. The forwards found their feet in the second half and out-rucked their somewhat heavier opponents. There were huge efforts from all as the Brewers tried to pull this one out of the fire.

Down 14-0 at the half as the big Colgate forwards rumbled Jake Sheehy hit back when he ran alertly from a quick tapped penalty. Then flyhalf Stoddard Meigs glided through to make it 14-12. But Vassar fell off a couple of tackles and it was 19-12 with 10 minutes left.

Kenta Hasui went over to give the team a shot at a tied game but the conversion was off the mark and despite a desperate last 7 minutes the Brewers could not get within range for the winning kick nor try. A big, big effort and it was good to see that fighting spirit displayed by all.

Team: 15 Kenta Hasui 14 Steven Juca 13 Alejandro Dinsmore 12 Eli Vargas 11 Jacob Adelgren 10 Stoddard Meigs 9 Jake Sheehy 1 Adam D'Agostino 2 Eric Santacruz 3 John Winton 4 Louis Khourey 5 Matt Brown 6 Justin Nam 7 Wade Crouch 8 Jonathan Chu. Subs: Jesse Myhill for Alejandro Dinsmore, Stephen Platz for Steven Juca.