By Zach Waltz
Assistant Sports Editor
The men’s rugby team came away from the weekend with two wins over Iona (90-5) and the United States Merchant Marine Academy at King’s Point (55-14).
The victories allow the Bonnies to travel to Shippensburg, Pa. to face Shippensburg University in the American Collegiate Rugby Championship’s (ACRC) quarterfinals tomorrow at 3 p.m. Shippensburg finished second in the Keystone Rugby Conference behind West Virginia. The winner will advance in the ACRC bracket to play in the semifinals.
Head Coach Clarence Picard said the Bonnies are gearing up for the tough away quarterfinal matchup.
“Shippensburg is in a similar situation as us,” Picard said. “Just like us, they’d like to be in the playoffs. It’s going to be a really good game. They’re at their home field, and it’s the premier match of the day. We want to have a good week of practice and finish the season on a high note.”
Sophomore wing Brendan Allman said the Bonnies need to emphasize their best attributes in order to get a win against the Raiders.
“Our kicking game is going to come into it a lot,” Allman said. “We have to stay with our strengths like our kick-chase and our counterattacks to get a win. That’s where we score most of our tries.”
The Bonnies had 14 tries in their game against Iona on Nov. 9. Junior flanker Evan Meister and junior wing John Sullivan led the team with three tries apiece. Fifth-year senior flyhalf Kevin McCorry led the team with 25 points.
Picard said the Bonnies played excellent in the game against Iona, winning in dominant fashion.
“We went out there against Iona and scored 14 tries, which is huge,” Picard said. “Iona is a solid team, so it’s not like they were the worst team.”
Allman led the team with three tries in the game against King’s Point. He and McCorry led the Bonnies with 15 points each.
Picard said the Bonnies showed resilience against the Merchant Marines on Nov. 10, who finished 5-4 on the season.
“The Merchant Marines were having a great year, and we really thought that was our most complete effort on both sides of the ball,” Picard said. “We came out even in bad weather and didn’t leave any questions about the result. There was a time when they started getting a little momentum, and we put them away.”
Allman said the two games were a confidence booster for the Bonnies after a hard loss to first-place Stony Brook on Oct. 26.
“After losing to Stony Brook, it was nice to come back with these two games,” Allman said. “We got to close out the season with two big wins over two good teams.”
Picard said the Bonnies made steady improvements over the year, ending the regular season with their strongest games.
“We weren’t thrilled with some of the play earlier in the season,” Picard said. “To come out in our last home game, it meant a lot to the guys to go out and play well. We can definitely say we played our two best games to end the season.”
