Poughkeepsie, NY - For the Brewers this was one that got away, pure and simple. The Vassar men led 24-20 with just minutes left on the clock. The team had shown outstanding progress compared with the two previous games in terms of game management, discipline, and shape but alas as the clock went into the red penalties were given and it was Fairfield that fashioned the great escape!

Vassar College Men 24 v 25 Fairfield University Men Development XV
Tries: TJ Usher (2), Gene Waddy (1), Phil Knowlton (1).
Cons: Sawyer Bivins (2).

Vassar caught the kick-off and with their first possession went through some phases before a knock-on turned the ball over to Fairfield. The Connecticut school used their first possession more effectively as they made some inroads toward the center of the field before swinging it wide to space on the left. Vassar had failed to cover that side with enough defenders well spaced and it was a straightforward try. Kudos to Fairfield for spotting the space and employing a couple of decent offloads.

Vassar followed this setback with a period of good pressure. The Brewers went through phases and made good ground. There were two lineouts that were well driven and the scrum shunted Fairfield back taking the ball against the head once. But Vassar was held up in-goal and then knocked the ball on just 5 meters from the Fairfield goal line. All the pressure and structured play had yielded nought. But Fairfield failed to clear their line well and when Vassar got the ball back an individual effort from TJ Usher put Vassar on the scoresheet and with the conversion it was 7-5 Vassar.

Fairfield kicked off and managed to get possession and then scored the softest of tries as Vassar failed to defend the fringe of the ruck. Two picks saw the visitors score and the lead had changed hands 10-7. The scoreline stayed at 10-7 for the majority of the remainder of the half as both teams had spells of pressure but were unable to convert.

Eventually the Fairfield Number 8 picked and ran hard from the base of the scrum and went over to push the lead to 15-7 and that's how the half finished.

Vassar clearly had an edge in the scrums but the lineouts were a bit hit and miss. The game was a good matchup and after an initial 5 minutes of the second half Vassar imposed their style with a couple of good possessions before TJ Usher sliced through to score. McCarthy Barber had looked strong at the back fielding some long kicks and Marius Kruse had tackled consistently. In fact it was no surprise that the Brewers got the score that made it 15-14 and then went further ahead as Gene Waddy dived over from short range and it was 19-15.

Full of confidence the Brewers pack caught a line out and drove over emphatically to lead 24-15. It seemed like this was to be the day for the home team. The scrum had continued being effective, the lineouts were functioning well now and the opposition were being forced into some handling errors. But Vassar became too passive for a period and might have thought the job was done but Fairfield pushed the ball wide and scored in the right corner so Vassar was left to defend a 4 point lead, 24-20.

Both teams upped the pace and Gene Waddy went over for what looked like a try only for the referee to determine that he was held up. The video clearly shows Waddy over the line and over the ball so it was a strange decision. Continued Vassar pressure as the forwards picked near the line led to Sawyer Bivins being brought down just short but the flanker reached out and scored. Again the referee said no but a player is allowed to place the ball after being tackled so this was another 5-pointer that was chalked off. Literally moments later Bivins went over again with the ball under his chest and the referee judged it to have been knocked on! Apparently three is not a charm!

And just to add insult to injury Fairfield went up the other end and slipped over the line for a winning try! It was heartbreaking for the Brewers as there was no time left on the clock and Fairfield won 25-24.

Watching this video will be both enjoyable and educational for the Brewers. There was real shape and structure to their game of which they can be proud. The progress in 3 weeks that has been made is clearly visible and the team must keep building and sustain this improvement.

Team: 15 McCarthy Barber 14 Bowie Graebner 13 Rhese Fine 12 TJ Usher 11 Will Hamilton 10 Marius Kruse 9 Anthony Kolesar 1 Finn Smith 2 Phil Knowlton 3 Ben Kaplan 4 Theo Rankin 5 Gene Waddy 6 Sawyer Bivins 7 Muhammad Muhammad Al-Shaebani 8 Ken Kabeya 
Subs: Cyrus Carlson, Brandon Jones, Wren Alger, Alex Gough-Schnapp, Josh Maddaloni, Yi Qin, & Asa Rosenberg.
Injured: Miles Yum, Owen McManus, Luca Pereira Frears & Leo Powdrell.
Unavailable: Chris Jones & Riddhit Mitra.

Record: 1-2-0.

Next: Saturday October 3, 2026 Vassar College Men versus SUNY-Maritime College at the Vassar Preserve & Farm KO 1:00 pm