Vassar College Men
Poughkeepsie, NY
Sunday October 22^nd, 2017

 
Vassar Men Set-up Playoff Re-match
A win today for the Brewers would mean a home semi-final berth in the Central Division playoffs. But they faced the defending champion SUNY-New Paltz who last Fall defeated Vassar twice. Add into this mix the fact that this is a Mid-Hudson Valley rivalry for as long as the teams have existed and you have a recipe for a cracking game. The crowd was not disappointed.

 
Sunday October 22^nd, 2017
Vassar College Men  44 v 12 SUNY-New Paltz  Men
Tries: Rob Eder (1), Dale Lord (1), Theo Lewis-Lawrence (1), Joe Simon (1), Joe Griffen (1), Stephen Kpundeh (1) & Nate Cuson (2).
Cons: Stephen Kpundeh (2).

 
An early kick-off at 11:00 am under clear skies and summer-like temperatues set the scene for some exciting rugby at Vassar. The visitors, SUNY-New Paltz, were up for this contest and had a sizable pack with some speedy backs on the outside. But Vassar was able to get the first score and in fact over the course of the first 25 minutes they built a 20-0 lead with 4 tries taking the wind out of the sails of the Hawks.

 
The interesting thing was that Vassar had had much less possession in the opening exchanges and New Paltz was able to make territorial gains. Vassar did tackle well and some ill-discipline cost the Hawks 2 players to the sin-bin at the 33 minute mark. Ironically, Vassar did not really press with this advantage as they already had the lead.

 
The defensive effort of the home team was much improved on previous weeks and although it still has to get even better it was a confidence booster.

 
In attack Nick Olkovsky dealt with the considerable pressure applied in the first receiver channel and was able to free the outside running of Vassar fullback Nate Cuson. The fullback gave a good account of himself and scored two tries as did wing Stephen Kpundeh.

 
Up front the forwards rucked well and support was close. When Vassar had the ball progress was made and field position gained.

 
The key for this squad is to keep their feet on the ground and continue to minimize mistakes. Tackling and line speed still need to improve while the lineouts today were something of a lottery so that has to be a source of possession.



The win sets up the same opponent next Sunday in the Tri-State Rugby Conference Central Division playoff semi-final.

 
Team: 15 Nate Cuson 14 Stephen Kpundeh 13 Joe Griffen 12 Joe Simon 11 Theo Lewis-Lawrence 10 Nick Olkovsky  9 Gary Garcia 1 Mike Cadenas 2 Louie Brown 3 Dale Lord 4 George Sheppard 5 Nick Crooks 6 Josh Espada 7 Evan Roberts 8 Rob Eder.
Overall record: 6-1-0

 
Next: Sunday October 29^th, 2017 versus SUNY-New Paltz at Vassar College Farm kick-off 2:00 pm

 
Sunday October 22^nd, 2017
Vassar College Men "B" 67 v 0 SUNY-New Paltz  Men "B"
Tries: James Christensen (1), Jack Kenney (1), Kyle Bratcher (2), Logan Ragsdale (1), Ali Sadek (2), Norman Kuang (2), Roydel Morris (1), & Reece Guo (1).
Cons: Paul Rouhier (6).

 
In a display that bodes well for the future of Vassar Men's rugby 9 of the 15 players scored points as the Vassar B-side cruised to an 11-try victory over SUNY-New Paltz.

 
The team showed real shape and a disciplined approach as they completely dominated their cross-river rivals. Norman Kuang ran the show at scrumhalf and the forwards picked up the bulk of the tries.

 
These players are starting to push the Vassar A-side as they practice hard and if the performances continue it can only be good for VC Rugby.

 
Team: 15 Jeff Montoya 14 Stephen Ochieng 13 Ryan Chan 12 Reece Guo 11 Roydel Morris 10 Paul Rouhier 9 Norman Kuang 1 Ali Sadek 2 Caleb Zachary 3 Ankit Khosla 4 Logan Ragsdale 5 Chris Duncan 6 Kyle Bratcher 7 Kushin Mukherjee 8 James Christensen. Subs: Brian Lee for Stephen Ochieng,  Jack Kenney for Kyle Bratcher, Grant Roulier for Ryan Chan, & Levi Tuck for Ankit Khosla.