2008 Woodie Awards
'Beastly' ruggers
Men's club fourth in Beast of the East
Erik Schnackenberg
Issue date: 4/28/08 Section: Maine Sports
The University of Maine men's rugby squad came off a somewhat disappointing weekend at the Maine Cup tournament a few weeks ago but bounced right back in the Beast of the East Tournament on April 19 and 20 in Providence, R.I. The team went 3-2 overall and took fourth place out of the 32 teams that competed.
"Considering we only had seven guys from our starting fall team [competing], we definitely exceeded expectations," said Co-Captain and Co-President Tony Purpura.
The team showed up to the tournament 30 minutes prior to their first match and lacking top players from their top-10, nationally ranked team from the fall - the team was without Eric Anderson, who sprained his MCL last week at the Maine Cup, Mike Groth, Chris Drozell and Sam La Rue. Andrew Higgins, who made the trip down with the team, injured his shoulder against Babson College on the first day of the tournament and was unable to continue play on Sunday.
The team's first match came against Stony Brook. UMaine lost on a hard match with a score of 14-12. The nail in the coffin was a crucial and tough try from Stony Brook.
"We basically got off the bus and had to step onto the pitch," player Jeff Dalzell said. "It was tough."
UMaine, which only played in two games on Saturday, had their chance for redemption in the second match against Babson College. UMaine came out strong and never let up - showing no mercy while demolishing Babson 55-0.
Key tries came early in the game from Stan Watz, Ken Harvey and Dalzell to ignite the scoring extravaganza. UMaine, which had a lot of space to fill due to the lack of players, looked to their B-squad for help; Watz, Anthony Bruno, Tom Champa and Jon Myers stepped up to play in all five games and added strong play both on defense and offense.
UMaine opened up play on Sunday against Salve Regina University, continuing to show their strong defense. UMaine won the match on their second straight shutout by a score of 10-0.
"Considering we only had seven guys from our starting fall team [competing], we definitely exceeded expectations," said Co-Captain and Co-President Tony Purpura.
The team showed up to the tournament 30 minutes prior to their first match and lacking top players from their top-10, nationally ranked team from the fall - the team was without Eric Anderson, who sprained his MCL last week at the Maine Cup, Mike Groth, Chris Drozell and Sam La Rue. Andrew Higgins, who made the trip down with the team, injured his shoulder against Babson College on the first day of the tournament and was unable to continue play on Sunday.
The team's first match came against Stony Brook. UMaine lost on a hard match with a score of 14-12. The nail in the coffin was a crucial and tough try from Stony Brook.
"We basically got off the bus and had to step onto the pitch," player Jeff Dalzell said. "It was tough."
UMaine, which only played in two games on Saturday, had their chance for redemption in the second match against Babson College. UMaine came out strong and never let up - showing no mercy while demolishing Babson 55-0.
Key tries came early in the game from Stan Watz, Ken Harvey and Dalzell to ignite the scoring extravaganza. UMaine, which had a lot of space to fill due to the lack of players, looked to their B-squad for help; Watz, Anthony Bruno, Tom Champa and Jon Myers stepped up to play in all five games and added strong play both on defense and offense.
UMaine opened up play on Sunday against Salve Regina University, continuing to show their strong defense. UMaine won the match on their second straight shutout by a score of 10-0.
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