Probably the most competitive division at the Beast of the East Tournament each year is the Men's Division II bracket. Eighteen teams compete for the title and they come from all over the Northeast, from Maine across New England and over to Pennsylvania. The Vassar Men were in a tough group with highly ranked Salve Regina but the first order of business was to take on Holy Cross.
Vassar Men Defeat College of the Holy Cross
It was a display that reminded one of how good Vassar can be when they do the basics well. The forwards quickly got into stride and provided shape and continuity and Holy Cross looked to be chasing shadows as the point of attack was varied. The New England school did themselves no favors with what can best be described as speculative passes but Vassar was always in control of this match.
Vassar College Men 31 v 5 College of the Holy Cross Men
Tries: George Sheppard (1),
John Loree (3),
Seamus Taylor (1).
Cons: Stephen Kpundeh (3).
This was definitely a game that Vassar would have to try hard to lose. If they kept mistakes to a minimum and defended well it was as good as in the win column. Up front the pack looked solid in the scrum and rucked better than the Holy Cross counterparts. Nick Crooks rose high and caught lineout ball as well as being disruptive on opposition throws. The single area of concern was turnovers as the Holy Cross lads tried to poach the ball.
In the centers,
Seamus Taylor and Joe Simon had some good runs getting well over the gain line and although the tries Vassar scored were straight forward they were all well deserved.
Stephen Kpundeh did well in both attack and defense and he is gaining confidence with every game he plays. Hopefully, he will enjoy the fact that there are less defenders in the Sevens game and he can score tries to add to his resume.
In the forwards one can't say enough about the efforts of
Louis Khourey, Zach Rippe,
Adam D'Agostino and JohnWinton.
John Loree may be the one barging over for the tries but it is a pack effort that gets him within range.
George Sheppard played with a dodgy hamstring but managed to collect the first Vassar 5-pointer and then it was the quick tap specialist
John Loree who went over 3 times and Vassar ran out comfortable winners 24-5.
Team: 15 Charlie Hooghkirk 14 Stephen Kpundeh 13 Joe Simon 12 Seamus Taylor 11 Sam Lehn 10 Nick Olkovsky 9 Gary Garcia 1 Adam D'Agostino 2 Louis Brown 3 John Winton 4 John Loree 5 Nick Crooks 6 George Sheppard 7 Louis Khourey 8 Zach Rippe. Subs: Caleb Zachary, James Choung Wade Crouch, Russel Spiro, Ian Quinn, Kushin Mukherjee, & Razvan Mukherjee.
Explosive Salve Regina
The Vassar Men were immediately on the back foot as Salve Regina unleashed an opening 10 minutes at a furious pace. They used the slope and the wind at their backs to slam into the Vassar defenders and two high kicks produced early tries and a third made it 17-0 before one could say Robert's your father's brother!
Vassar College Men 0 v 32 Salve Regina College Men
Salve Regina have had a good year and with the school being just down the road from the tournament they had a full roster, plenty of fans, and an urgency about their play that was commendable.
Their runners broke tackles and the Vassar defenders were scrambling to hang on. Ironically, Salve scored two tries from kicks ahead that Vassar fullback Charlie Hooghkirk allowed to bounce. To be fair it was a wicked swirling wind and he most definitely heard the footsteps coming!
Vassar did tighten up and stem the tide after that opening salvo from Salve!
Gary Garcia managed to get some possession and the Vassar forwards pushed the team back into the Salve half. But a further try left the score at 22-0 by the half.
Vassar regrouped and in the second half conceded two tries and one has to credit the defense improvements. Players had better line speed and made one on one tackles making it difficult for the home team to make progress.
The loss put Vassar into the consolation bracket and a match-up with Conference rivals Molloy College on the
Sunday.
Team: 15 Charlie Hooghkirk 14 Stephen Kpundeh 13 Joe Simon 12 Sam Lehn 11 Wade Crouch 10 Nick Olkovsky 9 Gary Garcia 1 Adam D'Agostino 2 Louis Brown 3 John Winton 4 John Loree 5 Nick Crooks 6 George Sheppard 7 Louis Khourey 8 Zach Rippe. Subs: Caleb Zachary, James Choung, Russel Spiro, Ian Quinn, Kushin Mukherjee, & Razvan Mukherjee.
Sunday April 17th, 2016
Vassar Men Bow Out of Tournament
At the end of this game a very battered and bruised Vassar team left the field having put up a commendable fight. Molloy certainly deserved the win as they scored more tries but the overall standard of play won't cause any opponents sleepless nights.
Vassar College Men 7 v 28 Molloy College Men
Tries: John Loree (1).
Cons: Gary Garcia (1).
In a tightly contested first half it was 7-7 but Molloy was earning the lion's share of the ball. The Vassar defensive effort was very good considering that they only enjoyed about 20% possession.
But fortunately for Vassar the Molloy players often threw an ill advised pass or knocked the ball forward with good gain line opportunities begging.
Vassar's
Louis Khourey tackled relentlessly throughout the game and all the Vassar lads put in big defensive shifts. Molloy did score to make it 14-7 at the half but it was still very much either team's match.
The Vassar backs had a torrid second half as the line speed from Molloy was near Olympian sprinter standards! However more often than not the defenders were consistently off-side so it is no wonder they were able to make 3 interceptions in the 10-12 channel! In the end the supply of ball was the difference as more opportunities came Molloy's way and 2 more tries wrapped up the victory for the Long Island school.
At the conclusion of the game the referee was very complimentary of the Vassar team stating that they had been, "A class act" he added that the Molloy team was to the contrary.
Team: 15 Charlie Hooghkirk 14 Stephen Kpundeh 13 Joe Simon 12 Sam Lehn 11 Caleb Zachary 10 Nick Olkovsky 9 Gary Garcia 1 Adam D'Agostino 2 Louis Brown 3 John Winton 4 John Loree 5 Nick Crooks 6 Russel Spiro 7 Wade Crouch 8 Louis Khourey. Subs: James Choung, Ian Quinn, Kushin Mukherjee, & Razvan Stanescu.
Overall record: 7-5-0
Next week: Sunday April 24th, 2016 Tri-State 7s Championship at Vassar College Farm – 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
