Late Score and Penalties Doom Men's Rugby at Umass Dartmouth

Playing in their first game in Division III in 3 years, the men's rugby team traveled to UMASS Dartmouth Saturday hoping to open up their '09 campaign with an all important victory. It was not to be, however, as penalties and sloppy play contributed to a late loss dropping the team to 0-1. "As opening games go it was not too bad," commented Head Coach Derek Jenesky, "but we just shot ourselves in the foot repeatedly with stupid mistakes and a ton of penalties."

UMASS (1-0) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead 5 minutes into the contest as the larger more physical team pushed Stonehill back deep into its own end, smashing a forward into the try zone from short range.

Finally settling down, the men were able to control some of the play, and when a UMASS player was sent off for 10 minutes for a dangerous tackle, Stonehill was able to take back momentum. Senior Scrumhalf Paul Sawyer, put the purple and black on the board, catching a feed from junior flanker Alex Swayne, who had broken free off of a lineout. Nimbly evading three men en route to the score, Sawyer would convert himself to make the score 7-5.

In a game of changing momentum and leads, UMASS would rally back, scoring a converted try with 9 minutes to go in the half, to take a 12-7 lead into the intermission. "As poorly as we played in the first half, we were pretty surprised to be only down five," added Jenesky "Our hope was that the boys would find some toughness and limit our mistakes in the second half."

Midway through an intense second half, the momentum would swing back to Stonehill, as another UMASS player was given a yellow and sent off for ten minutes, this time for retaliation. Again up a player on their opponent, the men would drive the ball deep into UMass territory where junior flanker Jeff Griswold would knot the score at 12-12.

Griswold burst over the line from 8 meters away off of a penalty play. Receiving their third yellow card of the game and second one with 4 minutes, UMASS was down to 13 men on the field. When Sawyer slotted a penalty kick from 25 meters out with 14 minutes to play, it looked like Stonehill would have a hard fought come from behind victory. The ensuing kick however was dropped in their own end, giving UMASS great field position, and a return in momentum. After four consecutive Hill goal line stands, the home team was able to finally solve the staunch Hill defense. The UMass inside center would burst through the line for a converted score and 19-15 lead, with six minutes to play.

The remaining time was played in the UMASS end as Stonehill tried frantically to retake the lead. Unfortunately, the hard hitting team from Dartmouth would not budge until the final whistle, taking the 4 point win at home.

"I thought we played a much tougher second half, but when you have a team on the ropes you have to put them away, and we didn't. Playing 15 on 13 we really could not capitalize, and that was just one of the many reasons we lost this game," said Jenesky, "It was a tough loss for us, but we have to put this one behind us and move forward."

The men return to the field this on Friday night, September 25, at home against Wheaton College, with kick-off slated for 7:00pm.