Somehow the Vassar College Men found a way to win this game although some might argue that it was a case of Maritime just not taking their chances. Perhaps the answer is that it was a bit of both. Early on Vassar scored a couple of good tries and seemed as if they would keep finding holes. But the Privateers could scrummage and they ran hard off the fringes of the rucks so they stayed in touch throughout.
 
Vassar College Men 20 v 19 Maritime College Men
Tries:  Joe Simon (3), & Nick Olkovsky (1). 

The Maritime Privateers gave away too many penalties at the breakdown in the opening stanza and that allowed Vassar to establish field position. It was critical that the Brewers dominate possession and put points on the board for the visitors looked to have some big strong lads who could prove a handful in the open field. As it turned out in the first 25 minutes Vassar scored a couple of tries through the center with Joe Simon proving a handful.
 
Maritime battled back and scored a simple try when the Vassar defense was poor around the rucks and with the score at 10-5 the team in blue and black was knocking on the door again. Vassar had dug their own hole when they did not deal well with the restarts and allowed Maritime to get possession. But from a 5-meter scrum Vassar's Seamus Taylor broke away. Taylor was supported by Joe Simon, who sprinted over to collect his third try and give Vassar a 10-point lead.
 
The second half was a real slugfest as Vassar struggled to match the physicality of the Privateers. Too often Vassar lost the ball and as possession dried up the pressure came on from Maritime. Vassar's slender lead of 15-5 was reduced to 15-12 late in the contest but with about 10 minutes remaining there was still time for either team to earn the victory.
 
Vassar's Evan Roberts had some mercurial runs and Seamus Taylor too was strong and abrasive carrying the ball. But the Vassar scrum and lineout struggled and the backs too had dropped passes and made errors so it was very tight.
 
Finally, Vassar got deep in to the Maritime 22 and from a scrum Trevor Kennish very adeptly got the ball away as it squirted out. Flyhalf Nick Olkovsky knew his passing options were no longer available so he ran blind out pacing the defense to the corner. It was another very timely score. At 20-12 with time running short Maritime punched upfield and from a quickly taken penalty scored a try duly converted to set-up a grandstand finish at 20-19. But alas for the Privateers time ran out and they could only look back and rue a couple of clearcut try scoring opportunities not taken.
 
A win is a win but the Brewers know they need to improve and develop a number of areas in order to be a stronger team.
 
Team: 15 Joe Griffen 14 Stephen Kpundeh 13 Joe Simon 12 Seamus Taylor 11 Dawkin Erceg 10 Nick Olkovsky 9 Trevor Kennish 1 Louie Brown 2 Evan Roberts 3 Dale Lord 4 Nick Crooks 5 Anthony Varghese 6 Anthony Brown 7 Kaden Wood 8 Rob Eder
Subs: Jonathan Mozoon for Kaden Wood.
 
Overall record: 4-0-0
 
Next week: Sunday October 9^th, 2016 versus SUNY-Oneonta - Kickoff 12:00 p.m. at Vassar College Farm.