The Fall 2016 Season came to an abrupt and sudden halt for the Vassar Men as they were brushed aside by the undefeated SUNY-New Paltz Men. The former must now spend a long winter off-season in the gym bulking up while the latter advance to play in the NSCRO Regional playoffs. It was a game where Vassar never got a grip on matters defensively and it was to prove unfavorable. New Paltz ran in 8 tries in total and while Vassar had some moments with the ball when without it they were found wanting.
 
Vassar College Men 13 v 55 SUNY-New Paltz Men
Tries: Dawkin Erceg (1) & Trevor Kennish (1).
Pens: Trevor Kennish (1).

It is hard to be too harsh on a young and very, very inexperienced side. Four of the pack started playing rugby this fall so had played just 7 games prior to this match-up. It was something of an irony then that the backs, all of whom had played at least a year were the unit that was shredded by the strong running New Paltz centers.
 
The New Paltz attack was pretty straight forward. Get the ball to the guys in the center and then have them run over or around the defense. They also used their forwards to good effect running off the fringes and the scrumhalf was always a threat. But there was no magic pattern of play or any great sophistication with decoy runners, just plain old back yourself and go!
 
The first half was competitive as Vassar was able to scrummage much better than the first game this season. Dale Lord was solid and it allowed scrumhalf Trevor Kennish the opportunity to clear the ball. In fact, early on Vassar looked very good when they had possession and was able to work their way down the field. But New Paltz scored first when the Vassar defense left a massive hole that the number 12 ran through. He must have thought Moses had raised his hand and the Lord had parted the Red Sea such was the space available! Vassar clawed their way back into the contest and Trevor Kennish made it 5-3 with a well struck penalty.  But a missed connection in the centers right under the posts with a suspicion of a knock-on led to try number 2 and a 12-3 lead for the Hawks.
 
Two more tries before the end of the first 40 and it was clear that Vassar would need a much improved second half performance to be in with a shot. The Brewers did start the second half brightly domination field position but when turned over it was like a fire hydrant bursting and New Paltz would race off to score from 60 and 70 yards out.
 
Vassar never got within a mile of New Paltz as another 4 tries were leaked and a number of opportunities squandered. Four attacking lineouts were lost in succession and the backs continued to struggle defensively although to be fair they did also start to fly up and disrupt attacks.
 
To be fair the very existence of a Vassar men's team was in question at the start of the year so these lads have done well to assemble a team. Now the challenge is to build the numbers so that there is competition for starting places.
 
Team: 15 Charlie Hooghkirk 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 Tony Varghese 6 Anthony Brown 7 Kaden Wood 8 Rob Eder. 
Subs: Joe Griffen for Joe Simon. 
 
Overall record: 6-2-0
 
Next: Spring Season Tour to Barcelona 2017