Men's Rugby Stumbles in Pool Play at Tri-State 7s

Poughkeepsie, NY - The Vassar men have decent all around pace in their 7s squad. The team has some deceptive runners and have learned some hard lessons in their prior weekend's games so expectations were high as Vassar hosted the Tri-State Conference 7s Championship. It was a very cold day although thankfully the sun was in the sky and there was no rain. But some poor decisions with the ball in hand and a slew of missed tackles led to that rainy day feeling.

Vassar College 17 v 5 SUNY-Oneonta
Tries: McCarthy Barber (1), TJ Usher (2).
Cons: Kiran Mullen (1).

The Brewers earned this win the hard way. SUNY-Oneonta opened the scoring and it was a bit of a shock as Vassar had hardly taken a breath. Players were guilty of running across the field when a pass would have sufficed. The issue was that the defense was able to drift and no openings appeared. In addition there were simple knock-ons and poor passes. But the team rallied and scored a good try with every player touching the ball and it was worked to McCarthy Barber who went over. Two further tries from TJ Usher saw the Brewers run out winners but not scoring 5 tries meant that there was no bonus point to help their pool standing.

Team: 1 Miles Yum 2 Kaiden Tocher 3 Sawyer Bivins 9 Eli Schair-Rigoletti 10 Kiran Mullen 12 TJ Usher 14 McCarthy Barber.
Subs: Finn Smith, Phil Knowlton, Rhese Fine, Luca Pereira-Frears, Marius Kruse.

Vassar College 38 v 5 Montclair State University
Tries: Eli Schair-Rigoletti (2), TJ Usher (1), Kaiden Tocher (1), McCarthy Barber (2).
Cons: Kiran Mullen (4).

The Brewers got back on track and went to 2-0 in pool play as they scored 6 tries to dispatch Montclair State University. It was still a bit labored in attack and again the opposition had scored early. Eli Schair-Rigoletti was tenacious and ran intelligently while McCarthy Barber collected a brace as well. But again all the team were guilty of not moving the ball particularly well and defaulting to contact.

Team: 1 Luca Pereira-Frears 2 Kaiden Tocher 3 Sawyer Bivins 9 Eli Schair-Rigoletti 10 Kiran Mullen 12 T.J. Usher 14 McCarthy Barber.
Subs: Miles Yum, Phil Knowlton, Finn Smith, Ken Kaybeya, Reese Fine.

Vassar College 12 v 20 Hofstra University
Tries: McCarthy Barber (1), Phil Knowlton (1).
Cons: Kiran Mullen (1).

In their final pool game Vassar needed to win to ensure they qualified for the semifinals. Alas it was not to be as a poor defensive showing allied to some squandered final passes sealed their fate. It was exciting as the Brewers staged a comeback but then Hofstra shut the door and advanced.

Team: 1 Luca Pereira-Frears 2 Kaiden Tocher 3 Miles Yum 9 Eli Schair-Rigoletti 10 Kiran Mullen 12 T.J. Usher 14 McCarthy Barber.
Subs: Sawyer Bivins, Phil Knowlton, Finn Smith, Ken Kaybeya, Reese Fine.

Vassar College Men B 17 v 17 Hofstra University B
Tries: Ashton Saenz (1), Ken Kaybeya (1), Reese Fine (1).
Cons: Reese Fine (1).

This was a real thriller of a contest and Vassar's 7 showed great character to battle back and score right at the end to tie the game. The conversion would've given the Brewers the win but the conversion was not made.

Team: 1 Max Czekaj 2 Ken Kabeya 3 Samia Jaman 9 Ashton Saenz 10 Anthony Kolesar 12 Reese Fine 14 Tony Mwangi.
Subs: Marius Kruse, Muhammad Al-Sheabani, Gabe Slavin, Caleb DiBartolo.

This was a frustrating day for the Brewers for, by their own admission, they did not show their best. There was plenty of effort, some outstanding individual moments but the cohesion required to make things easier was not there. Next weekend there is no game, after which the team will go to Bard before traveling to the Beast of the East 7s Tournament for the season finale.

Next: Sunday April 12, 2026 at Bard College 15s & 7s KO 12:00 pm

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Players Mentioned

Max Czekaj: Senior

Caleb DiBartolo: Senior

Samia Jaman: Senior

Ken Kabeya: Junior

Phil Knowlton: Junior

Tony Mwangi: Sophomore

Finn Smith: Junior

Kaiden Tocher: Senior

TJ Usher: Junior

Gabe Slavin: Senior

Players Mentioned

Max Czekaj
: Senior

Caleb DiBartolo
: Senior

Samia Jaman
: Senior

Ken Kabeya
: Junior

Phil Knowlton
: Junior

Tony Mwangi
: Sophomore

Finn Smith
: Junior

Kaiden Tocher
: Senior

TJ Usher
: Junior

Gabe Slavin
: Senior

Vassar College Athletics

Players Mentioned

Players Mentioned