Portsmouth, RI - The past two years saw the Brewers get to the semifinal stage of the Beast of the East 7s Tournament. This year the expectation was that they would go one better and reach the Division I final. The team has some good pace as well as evasive runners and size. It has also shown flashes of good play and they can be highly competitive against all teams. But alas on this weekend like at all tournaments this year the engine has spluttered and misfired. There has been a lot of effort and plenty of individual moments of excellence but there have been no consistent passages of play.

At this tournament the Brewers went 0-2-1. The team started the day with a tie against Stony Brook University, then lost to Clarkson University and SUNY-Binghamton.

Vassar College Men  7 v 7 Stony Brook University Men
Tries: TJ Usher (1).
Cons: Kiran Mullen (1).

This was a very good defensive display from the Brewers and come the end the team was kicking itself for squandering a number of clear cut scoring opportunities. 

Vassar fell behind 0-7; when a simple one on one tackle would have snuffed out the attack. But TJ Usher tied the game up with the simplest of tries from a scrum 50 meters away. 

The second half Vassar dominated territorially and Stony Brook was under enormous pressure from Vassar tacklers. But when the ball spilled loose or a pass dropped it was Stony Brook who maintained possession.

Even so there were other chances and when Sawyer Bivins tapped a penalty and tried to drive over the line the better option would have been a pass to the back division. So the game finished as a tie.

Vassar College Men  5 v 24 Clarkson University Men
Tries: Kaiden Tocher (1).
In the first half Vassar could not cope with the defensive pressure of the Clarkson line. Three kickoffs were received and three times the ball was turned over! Then one on one tackles were missed and it was 17-0 after a torrid 6 minutes!

Finally, in the last minute of the half Kiran Mullen offloaded to Kaiden Tocher after a quickly taken penalty and Vassar was on the board at 17-5.

Unfortunately, Vassar was back to lacking confidence and although the second half saw them create a couple of chances it was Clarkson who once again just rode a tackle and scored to seal the win 24-5. It was a sobering loss for the Brewers for again there had been a huge effort and some good tackles but too many simple mistakes.

Vassar College Men  17 v 24 SUNY-Binghamton Men
Tries: TJ Usher (1), 
Vassar took the lead in this contest when TJ Usher slipped through a gap and it seemed like Vassar could settle into this game and get a win. But Binghamton had a couple of strong runners and took the lead after their first try was converted. An immediate response from Vassar was provided by Mullen who fed Eli Schair-Rigoletti as he hit the line at pace and it was 12-7 at the half.

The start of the second half saw Vassar receive the ball but turn it over after a knock-on. Binghamton had the ball from a scrum and were being pressured well, the ball was dropped and Vassar had a couple of chances to regain possession but did not do so. Then a simple fend and a missed tackle saw them tie the game up after going over in the right corner. It was now 12-12.

Binghamton gifted Vassar an opportunity when the ball did not travel 10 meters at the restart and after a crash play with Schair-Rigoletti Mullen wrestled the ball loose and fed Usher who went under the sticks for a 17-12 lead. Tocher, who thought the game was over, opted to take the kick waving off kicker Mullen and it went under the crossbar! 

The game was restarted with Vassar kicking to Binghamton. The deep kickoff was caught and the ball just passed along the line with the winger running around the defender to score in the corner. The game tied at 17-17 and it went to sudden death overtime.

The next 4 minutes were heartbreaking to watch. Vassar kicked off and then stole a lineout inside the Binghamton 22. They had the ball and field position and just needed 1 score. But an interception was thrown and Binghamton attacked. Vassar again defended well catching ball carriers in possession but the Brewers were just unable to get possession back. Binghamton kept the ball and eventually managed to break the line and it was all over.

Squad: Kiran Mullen, McCarthy Barber, Eli Schair-Rigoletti, TJ Usher, Sawyer Bivins, Max Czekaj, Ken Kaybeya, Kaiden Tocher, Miles Yum, Phil Knowlton, Rhese Fine, Finn Smith, Max Czekaj, Muhammad Al-Shaebani.

Next: Sunday April 26, 2026 Vassar College Men 7s v SUNY-New Paltz at Vassar Farm KO 12:00 pm