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RPI Men Take Down USMMA in Conference Semi-Final
(King's Point, NY)
RPI (4) upset Kings Point Merchant Marine Academy (1) yesterday 30-19 for the Tri-State Semi-Finals in a rematch of a hotly contested regular season game.
RPI came prepared for the strong kicking game of the merchant Marines today. After conceding an early penalty kick, Man of the match Nicky Corbett linked up with Doug Ladzinski at pace in the middle of the field, and Ladzinski took it to the house on a stunning run through the defense, putting the engineers up 5-3.
USMMA responded with a strong drive for an unconverted try, but would not find the try zone again until the last moments of the game. The Merchant Marines took trip after trip attacking inside the RPI 22, and each time were turned back by the engineer defense. Forwards man of the match Chris Rovito met the attack behind the gain-line on multiple occasions, and was responsible for no less then three key poaches, two of which were inside his defensive 5.
The RPI offense found their rhythm at the end of the first half, after some excellent kick exchanges between the back three, with Corbett getting the better of his opposite number, saw RPI slowly chipping away at the Marines territory. An exhaustive series of phases concluded with forwards captain Brandon "Diesel" Gares scoring off a quick pick from the back of the Ruck, and RPI took a narrow 12-11 lead into the half-time break.
The discipline of the Engineers showed in the second half, as dominant set piece play and smart kicks saw them control the possession and territory and begin to pull away with penalty kicks. Another series of strong phases and an unforced error on a kick saw Steve Beseler in the try zone twice in as many minutes at the 70'and 72' mark. Breaking the score open to 30-14.
Kings Point fought bravely until the bitter end, smashing in a try with time expired after a series of penalties against RPI which brought the final score to 30-19.
Player of the Match honors were given to Grad Back, Nick Corbett, and Junior Forward, Chris Rovito. Representatives from the team had this to say after the game:
"The support from our alumni and the rugby community in the Capitol District has been amazing, and has allowed us to adjust our game and play at a higher level."
The RPI Engineers advance to the Tri-State Championships next Sunday, November 10th at 1pm, facing off against William Paterson who responsible for the other close loss on the RPI regular season. The match will be played at William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ. Please come out and support them as they play to become Conference Champions and move on to the Nationals Playoffs!
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Left: Nick Corbet, Computer Systems Engineering (Grad), Right: Chris Rovito, Aeronautical Engineering '21
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RPI Women Fall to Defending National Champs Vassar in Conference Semi-Final
(Poughkeepsie, NY)
Earlier this season, the RPI Women(3) suffered a humiliating loss to defending National Champions, Vassar College(1), 74-7. Since that game, the Women have played with a very large chip on their shoulders, realizing that some things had to change in order to avoid a game like that again. They focused on fitness outside of practice, they became more innovative with play calls during practice and used them during games, and over the past month have dominated any competition they have stepped on the field with. Leading up to this game most people understood that no one was going to give us a chance and that added more fuel to the fire.
Yesterday, the RPI Women shut out Vassar for the first 39 minutes of the game with solid tackling, communication, and poaching. Vassar had no answer for the fast defense that they were facing and managed to finally squeak a try in at the end of the half.
Down 7-0 at halftime, and understanding that this was their moment silence doubters, the RPI offense finally came alive in the second half and for a while they ended up in a shoot out with the opposing team. Unfortunately, a couple of key turnovers and a very key injury in the backline allowed Vassar to pull ahead in the end with the final result being 33-12. Despite this loss, everyone on the team was optimistic about moving forward. They went toe to toe with the defending National Champions and forced them to play their game.
Despite the loss, the RPI Women are not yet out of the hunt for Nationals. The match for Third place in the Conference will be next Sunday, November 10th, against Fairfield University at 12:30pm. The match will be played at Siena College which has been chosen as a neutral site. The winner of that match will receive a bid into the National Playoffs. After the match, Women's Coach Andrew Denson had this to say:
"There is no doubt in my mind that this ride is going to be continuing and Fairfield is just another step on the way to our ultimate goal. I'm hoping to have people come out and support us next weekend. Next week and all the weeks that follow, everyone has the same mindset........to face Vassar again in the Elite 8 of the National Playoffs and finally finish them for good. In order to get to that point, we have to fix our rucking woes and possibly work on our stamina just a little bit more."
Senior Back Ereena Akirtava and Sophomore Forward Cory Palmer received Player of the Match honors. They along with forwards captain Alexa Orosz weighed in on the match:
“ Although we would have preferred a W I'm so proud of this team for playing as a unit, communicating, taking advantage of our possessions, and reaffirming our ability to play an incredible defense, the foundation of why our team is successful today. We had the heart, the passion, skill, and most importantly put in the hard work to be here and we are not going down without a fight. We are here to prove that hard work beats talent every time, especially if the talent doesn't think they need to work hard” Forwards Captain and Hooker, Alexa Orosz
“I’m beyond proud of this team! I couldn’t be happier with our progress this year and regardless of the final score we put up a hell of a fight!” Outside Center, Ereena Akirtava
“We have finally started to play our own game, and have not given up any of our power into playing how another team wants us to. We are powerful and hungry for success.” Number 8, Cory Palmer
So come out and support our Women as they give it one last shot to make it to the National Playoffs!
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Left: Ereena Akirtava, Biochemistry/Biophysics '20, Right: Cory Palmer, Architecture '22
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General Announcements:
Rugby Thanksgiving
As has become an annual RPI Rugby tradition, Rugby Thanksgiving will be hosted by the actives on the weekend of December 7th & 8th in Troy, NY. All alumni are invited and encouraged to attend. Another email with specific time, location, and other relevant details will be sent out in the coming weeks.
Helping out the Actives
A few weeks ago a letter from the actives was emailed to all of you requesting help repaying a debt to the school that was due on November 1st. We are happy to announce that we were able to successfully raise the $2,276 requested from the actives through donations from all of you! The actives are extremely grateful for the help and will be sending out a thank you letter to all the alumni in the next few days.
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