News

Men with 2 Victories over Notre Dame College - 9/16/17

Saturday, September 16: 1^st XV v. Notre Dame College (43-17)

This past Saturday, the Penn State Men’s Rugby team traveled to South Euclid, Ohio to take on new-comer Notre Dame College in their first Rugby East match of the season. It was a successful trip as the team came out with a 43-17 victory and a bonus point to start the season.

The match was expected to be a physical encounter, and it surely did not disappoint as the Nittany Lions were more than up to the challenge of defending their Rugby East Title. Right off the opening kick-off the Penn State forwards set the tone and the platform to give the backs plenty of room to attack. Captain Mike Eife crossed the whitewash in the second minute to open the tally for the afternoon, which would end in a 6-try day and a bonus point victory for the Lions. The Penn State forwards dominated in both the scrum and lineout, setting perfect attacking platforms for the backs and not letting NDC gain any momentum off the set-piece for 80 minutes.

Man of the Match for Saturday’s game went to senior Zach Barnes (THP) who was instrumental on the day. While not flashy, Barnes does all the hard work, anchoring the scrum and hitting breakdowns with fervor for a full 80 minutes.

Next up the team will head north to take on St. Bonaventure on Saturday, September 23. The 1^st XV will kick-off at 2pm.

Try Scorers: Adamcheck, McNulty (2), Dabulas, Eife (2)

Conversions: Ronan 3 of 5, McCabe 1 of 1

Penalties: Ronan 0 of 1, McCabe 1 of 1

Saturday, September 16: 2^nd XV v. NDC (19-12)

The second match of the day was a much closer affair than the first, as can be expected sometimes when you have a younger team playing on both sides of the ball. It took some time for the team to really get going with the game moving from scrum to scrum as handling errors plagued both teams early.  

Once the Penn State attack settled down and realized that they had more time than they thought they were able to put together some nice phases to score. 8-Man Brendan Legalludec provided a lot of go-forward for the team and had some nice carries, eventually finding his way over the line. New flyhalf Connor Dellapina, while still very raw, was able to get an attack going from nothing and helped keep us on the front foot and score some points. Ultimately, the team came away with a hard fought 19-12 victory, making it 3 road wins for the 2^nd XV. We are really looking forward to a number of these players contributing on the first side very soon.

The 2^nd XV will take on St. Bonaventure on Saturday, September 23 following the 1^st XV.

Try Scorers: Legalludec, Dellapina, O’Malley, Collum

Conversions: McCabe: 1 of 1, Dellapina 1 of 3

Penalties: McCabe 0 of 1

Successful Weekend for the Women's Team - 9/16/17

This past Saturday in Happy Valley, the PSU Women took on NIRA’s (National Intercollegiate Rugby Association) American International College (AIC) and then Big 10 opponent University of Michigan and walked away with two wins, improving their record from 0-1 to 2-1.

Back to a full roster after tryouts, PSU bounced back from their loss vs Dartmouth beating AIC 66-10.  Tries were scored by Tess Feury, Kayla Canett, Gabby Cantorna, Fran Schaefer, Corinne Heavner, Gianna Solomon, and Azniv Nalbandian. Kayla Canett also added a little flare to the game by hitting a drop goal late in the 2^nd half off a stolen scrum.

After a short break, the women took the field against Michigan with 4 brand new rugby players, Claudia Norton, Emily Rowan, Celeste Good (Freshmen) and Megan Bridges (Junior) and 4 freshmen with High School experience, Joanna Suarez, Zhayer Legrand, Kelsie Contreras and Ali Wicks in the starting line up.  With a big focus on attacking kicks ,the game saw tries by Claudia Norton, Gabby Cantorna, Sophie Pyrz, Alex Weisser, Celeste Good, Katie O’Hare, Kelsie Contreras, Emily Rowan, Kayla Canett, Ali Wicks, and Amanda Kulijopf.  Not to be outdone, Gabby Cantorna also executed a picture-perfect drop goal late in the first half.

Roster vs. AIC (AIC traveled with only 14 players)

1. Kaiser, Corina
2. Sayer, Katie
3. Nalbandian, Az
4. Schaefer, Fran
5. Barnic, Rhyan
6. Bridges, Megan
7. McCormick, Madison
8. Carly, Maggie
9. Waters, Carly
10. Cantorna, Gabby
11. Solomon, Gianna (Bill)
12. Heavner, Corinne
13. McMeehan, Mindy
14. Feury, Tess 

Subs: Kayla Canett, Brit Tompkins, Sophie Pyrz

Roster vs. Michigan

1. Garnett, Kira
2. Contreras, Kelsie
3. Richter, Whitney
4. Weisser, Alexis
5. Bridges, Megan
6. Legrand, Zehayer
7. O'Hare, Katie
8. Wicks, Ali
9. Suarez, Joanna
10. Cantorna, Gabby
11. Heavner, Corinne
12. Norton, Claudia
13. Good, Celeste
14. Rowan, Emily
15. Pyrz, Sophie 

Subs: Kayla Canett, Brit Tompkins, Amanda Kulijopf

The two dominant wins provided a great prelude for the team being recognized for their 12^th National Championship and 6^th in a row at the Penn State vs Georgia State football game .