Collegiate Rugby - Men
 
Poughkeepsie, NY

Sunday April 8^th, 2018
 
Vassar Men defeat Red Foxes in local derby
One has to give the Vassar men credit for preparing properly for this tough cross town contest. Captain George Sheppard has really done a great job getting the team focused and they were ready to play on a bitter cold day at The Farm. The whole squad has contributed and even though not all have got on the field, it has been a group effort. Vassar took the lead and never relinquished it in what was a solid win with Marist collecting a couple of late tries.



Saturday March 31^st, 2018
Vassar College Men 31 v 24 Marist College Men
Tries: Mike Cardenas (1), Rob Eder (3) & Louie Brown (1).

Cons: Nate Cuson (3).

Vassar's Mike Cardenas produced another strong running and scrummaging performance and scored Vassar's first try to send an early message that this team would compete up front. The scrummaging was excellent and the front row trio of Louie Brown, Dale Lord and Cardenas never took a backward step. They stole ball and at one point the Marist front row looked to the sky as they were driven back.


But the Marist lads stuck to their guns and tied the game when their center picked up a loose ball and ran a full 65 meters to dive over. It was an alarming try for the home team as it was clear that given ball the opposition had the fire power to win.


But the Vassar pack is a cohesive unit and they supported each other closely and that meant plenty of ball. The referee for the game did an excellent job of policing the breakdown and both teams were complimentary after the match. Vassar with front foot ball was always going to pose problems for their Poughkeepsie neighbor. 



Vassar's Rob Eder took a knock early on to his leg but it did not slow the intelligent Number 8 down any. He scored 3 tries on the day and will no doubt be buying his front 5 dinner given the platform he had. Two came directly from the base of the scrum and it has brought his tally this year to 14 tries.


Evan Roberts was also a real pest as he threaded his way to the left and right of would be tacklers. He is a good foil to the direct running of Cardenas. Nick Crooks had a good day defensively and he put in some crucial low tackles to stop big ball carriers from Marist.


This game was the classic match-up of Vassar v Marist. Both sets of players playing with fire and the slightly smaller Vassar pack darting forward trying to out flank the big Marist lads. It made for compelling viewing.


So 12-5 became 19-5 and then Marist scored before the half to make it 19-12. But Vassar had the next 2 tries and led 31-12 with 5 minutes left. The team did their best to give the coaching staff grey hair but to be honest the final result was never in question.

 

Team: 15 Ryan Chan 14 Caleb Zachary 13 Nick Olkovsky 12 Joe Simon, 11 Roydell Morris 10 Nate Cuson 9 Norman Kuang 1 Mike Cardenas 2 Louie Brown 3 Dale Lord 4 Nick Crooks 5 George Sheppard 6 Kaden Wood 7 Evan Roberts 8 Rob Eder.
 
Subs: James Christensen for Roydell Morris, Ankit Khosla for Dale Lord, Chris Duncan for Nick Crooks &  Jack Kenney for Ryan Chan.
 
Record: 11-2-0