- Head Coach Tony Brown

ALBANY, NY (September 27, 2015) – It was a bye week for the Vassar College Men so just getting a game in the busy fall schedule was a bonus. The University of Albany had a conference game against A.I.C. but agreed to play a fifteen against Vassar. It was a bit of a mixed bag with some rookies alongside more experienced players so the expectation was that Vassar would have an edge in terms of cohesion and organization. Albany had some big strong lads and they always play a hard and physical game so Vassar was counting on being very efficient.

Vassar College Men 52 v 7 University at Albany XV

Tries: Gary Garcia (1), George Sheppard (2), Eli Vargas (2), Zach Rippe (1), Charlie Hooghkirk (1), & Joe Simon (1).

Cons: Gary Garcia (6).

 
Each week the team is expected to improve in various areas of their game. The focus was on reducing errors, particularly handling ones like dropped passes, and making first up tackles. It was relatively easy for Vassar to get focused given the fact that the Division I school has a large student body and therefore some large bodied students. But it was pleasing to see how each player made a total commitment to the contact aspects of the game.

While the scorers usually get the accolades this was truly a team performance and hopefully a building block added to the foundations of this fall season. Josh Espada battled continuously in the loose and had a good day in the lineouts. David Wallach was rock solid in defense and rucked strongly. In fact, Vassar lost 2 lineouts but they were for not straight throws. Gary Garcia had a massive day despite a few low passes as he ran and hustled everywhere. He is doing incredibly well and always is a threat with the ball in hand. The front row may not be the biggest around but they usually figure out a way to win the opposition ball. A feature of the commitment was the low scrimmaging and low body positions in the rucks.

It was Garcia who scored the first try after a scrum and good run from Zach Rippe. The scrumhalf also had a good day from the kicking tee as he slotted 6 of 8 conversions. Rippe made a number of line breaks and saw open field in front of him and he scored Vassar's 4th try. It was George Sheppard resurrected this weekend as the Vassar lock picked and thumped down a try from close range but later he shot through the defense and out ran the cover for a 50 plus yard try. No hamstring worries for this mobile forward!

Albany gave away far too many penalties and it allowed Vassar to get territory and then with good lineout ball they were able to set a platform.

The backs too stepped up this week and Nick Olkovsky took a hammering but got his passes off to Vargas and Sam Lehn. Vargas ran hard, stepped, and fended to score 2 tries and Lehn has staked a claim to the number 13 jersey with his tackling.

Next week Vassar host Marist and the challenge will no doubt be sterner but the qualities needed remain the same.

Team: 15 Joe Simon 14 Charlie Hooghkirk 13 Sam Lehn 12 Eli Vargas 11 Stephen Kpundeh 10 Nick Olkovsky 9 Gary Garcia 1 John Loree 2 Adam D'Agostino 3 John Winton 4 David Wallach 5 George Sheppard 6 Justin Nam 7 Josh Espada 8 Zach Rippe. Subs: Wade Crouch for Justin Nam.

Overall record: 4-0-0

Next week: Sunday October 4, 2015 versus Marist College at Vassar College Farm – Kickoff 11:00 a.m.
 

--VASSAR--