Brewers take on Union
SCHENECTADY, NY (October 4, 2014) - It was 39 years ago, almost to the day, when Vassar first fielded a men's rugby team and the opponent on that day, September 27th 1975 in Central Park, Schenectady, NY was Union College. The Brewers played their hearts out and Union only managed 1 try. In those days, a try was worth 4 points and that was the only score, so it finished a 4-0 win to Union.
 
After 15 minutes of play 39 years later Vassar led 19-0 and things did not get any better for the Dutchmen as they later had a player sent off for throwing a punch.
 
Vassar College Men 43 v 0 Union College
Tries: Seamus Taylor (1), Eli Vargas (3), Geoff Matthes (1), & Joe Simon (2).
Cons: Nich Graham (4).

Vassar scored 7 tries en route to their third conference win and on this wet and grey day Union never seriously threatened to score save for one line break in the 80 minutes. The reader would probably assume that this was a walk in the park for the Vassar team but they would be wrong. Yes, matters started well but right from the opening kick-off there were some worrying signs of things to come.
 
Geoff Matthes caught the kick-off and after 2 rucks Eli Vargas went screaming through the home defense. A further 3 quick rucks and Seamus Taylor ran through to score between the sticks. But the scrum had looked a tad shaky and players were stopping in the rucks. Both deficiencies would later haunt the Brewers.
 
On the plus side the Vassar defensive line was swarming and pinning Union back deep in her own half. A straightforward change in direction saw Vargas go over and he scored the next two Vassar tries in the half to earn a hat trick. But in a tackle before the first half came to a close Vargas was injured. His left shoulder acromioclavicular joint will now need a couple of weeks to heal up but his day was done.
 
Vassar was without regular starters Louis Khourey and John Winton so freshman George Sheppard had a first start as did John Loree. Both filled in well and with the return of the others this week competition for places will heat up.
 
Taylor went through again and after a couple of phases good quick hands from Nich Graham put Vargas in for try number 3. Graham was taking a beating but each time he pulled himself off the deck the team had scored!
 
Then inexplicably came the red card incident for there had been no ill will between the teams. Joe Simon, the Vassar fullback, gathered a ball on the ground that had been knocked forward and as he was tackled and going down a Union player swung a roundhouse right hook of which Joe Frazer would have been proud, except that it skimmed by Simon's head and only parted his hair! The referee was right on the spot and immediately issued a red card. Union played the remainder of the game with 14 men. Vassar should have dominated from this point on but for some reason the game became scrappy and Vassar lost attacking shape. Perhaps they felt that they could do what they wanted and succeed but with Union offloading and Vassar making errors it was not a good spell for the Poughkeepsie college.
 
A set piece move put Vargas under the posts and even though Union held the ball for a period of time at the half it was 26-0. Nich Johnson moved into the center to replace the injured Vargas and Steven Juca came on to play at right wing.
 
The opening stanza of the second half saw Vassar keep the game tight. The forwards tried to commit the Union defenders and eventually from a 5-meter scrum Geoff Matthes dived over. Union had lost another player to a yellow card as they constantly slowed the ball down and went off their feet at the rucks.
 
The Vassar forwards were stopping at the rucks and they were not pushing the offside line further back. This meant that when a Vassar player picked the ball they were immediately hit by the Union defense. When the ruck was moving forward they made good yards but when static it was sometimes a loss!
 
Union fought well with 13 and then 14 men but resorted to kicks and that was to prove most costly. Any team that kicks to the Vassar back three will be tested by their speed and one such kick fell to the fullback Simon who gleefully ran it back to increase the Vassar score. Justin Nam came on for Sheppard and gave the team a lift with his running and tackling. For the second week in a row flankers Quinson and Hasui were strong with and without the ball. The problem for Vassar was the lack of intensity at the rucks. Too often players did not do enough and so scrumhalf Jake Sheehy was caught or pressured when he not have been.
 
At the end Joe Simon was put away to make the final score 43-0 but this was a game where a further 6 tries should have been scored. This Vassar team will need to be so, so much sharper at the breakdown in the coming weeks if they are to emulate last year's effort.
 
Team: 15 Joe Simon 14 Nich Johnson 13 Seamus Taylor 12 Eli Vargas 11 Jesse Myhill 10 Nich Graham 9 Jake Sheehy 1 Adam D'Agostino 2 Alex Voynow 3 John Loree 4 Matt Brown 5 George Sheppard 6 Kenta Hasui 7 Erik Quinson 8 Geoff Matthes. Subs: Steven Juca for Eli Vargas & Justin Nam for George Sheppard. 
 
Record: 4-1
 
Next week: Sunday October 12^th, 2014 versus SUNY-New Paltz, kick-off 12:00 p.m. at Vassar College Farm. 

Vassar College Men "B" 21 v 34 Union College Men "B"
Tries: George Sheppard (1), Anthony Carbone (1), Solomon Ajasin (1).
Cons: George Sheppard (3).
 
In this seesaw battle Union finally prevailed as they managed to get a couple of breakaway tries. But that was not before Vassar had led 14-10 and looked to be finding some continuity. Up front Dale Lord not only carried the ball well in contact but he also made some very useful tackles. Novice Anthony Carbone was a running threat at scrumhalf and went over from short range to get his first Vassar try. George Sheppard scored from a quick penalty tap and then converted the try and the Vassar scrum was the more powerful throughout.
 
But missed tackles were the downfall of the team. A quite a few runs Union players were hit but not brought to ground and sometimes this was multiple times in the same run. Jack Fischer distributed better than previously. Nick Olkovsky almost broke through a couple of times and Josh Espada worked hard throughout.
 
It is still very much a case of getting experience and learning from the errors but the team scored 21 points, held a lead into the second half and perhaps would have fared better if Union had not been forced to use a couple of "A" side backs.
 
Team: 15 Morris Saxe-Smith 14 Steven Juca 13 Nick Olkovsky 12 Sam Lehn 11 Caleb Zachary 10 Jack Fischer 9 Anthony Carbone 1 Dale Lord 2 Eric Santacruz 3 Raleigh Smith 4 Nick Crooks 5 George Sheppard 6 Josh Espada 7 Alejandro Andrade 8 Justin Nam. Subs: Jeh Gagrat for Raleigh Smith & Solomon Ajasin for Steven Juca.

-Head Coach Tony Brown