Post-season – Playoff match-ups 10-29-17

Tri-State Rugby Conference Playoff games 10-29-17
​USMMA Men at RPI Men
Siena Men at Seton Hall​ Men
Molloy Men at Sacred Heart Men
Marist Men at William Paterson Men
Siena Women at Vassar Women
Marist Women at U. at Albany Women
New Paltz Men at Vassar Men
Monroe Men at Maritime Men
TCNJ Men at Hofstra Men
Union Men at Montclair State Men
Fordham Women at Monroe Women
Montclair State Women at Manhattanville Women

Rugby Imports Players of the Week: 10/7/17

Each week the Tri State Conference will honor a men’s and women’s standout performer with the Rugby Imports Players of the Week. Rugby Imports is the number one sponsor of the Tri State Conference and is the one stop shop for all authentic rugby gear, apparel and teamwear.

Men’s Rugby Imports Player of the Week

Player: Tayab Kimani
School: Hofstra University
Position: Number 8
Class: Senior

Forward captain Tayab Kirmani led the way for Hofstra University. He was a force on both sides of the ball, scoring 3 tries throughout the match and was dominant at the breakdown, which was key to keeping possession. Tayab also helped preserved the Hofstra shutout by leading the defense on a goal line stand and recording several tackles. Tayab was a force running the ball and in leading his team to victory!

Women’s Rugby Imports Player of the Week

Player: Abby Alexander
School: Vassar College
Position: Wing
Class: Senior

Alexander adds dynamic player to an extremely potent Vassar College. The winger tallied two tries this past weekend using her speed to outflank the defense in Vassar’s 43-17 win over Albany. Her first score opened the game and her second gave Vassar some breathing room from a tough Albany team.

If you would like to nominate someone for his or her play on the field please email tristaterugbyinfo@gmail.com after the completion of your match. Each week one men’s and one women’s player will be selected for Rugby Imports Player of the Week.

Rugby Imports Players of the Week: 9/30/2017

Each week the Tri State Conference will honor a men’s and women’s standout performer with the Rugby Imports Players of the Week. Rugby Imports is the number one sponsor of the Tri State Conference and is the one stop shop for all authentic rugby gear, apparel and teamwear.

Men’s Rugby Imports Player of the Week

Player: Thomas Jones
School: Marist College
Position: Center
Class: Sophomore

Jones tallied two tries and assisted on another for Marist this weekend. Not only did he contribute offensively but the sophomore had a solid performance on defense making a number of tackles for the Red Foxes.

Women’s Rugby Imports Player of the Week

Player: Jena Carella
School: Fairfield
Position:Outside Center
Class: Junior

Carella dominated for the Lady Red Ruggers scoring three first half tries and adding a fourth in the second half as Fairfield defeated Hofstra. The junior outside center also contributed over a dozen hard, aggressive tackles over the course of the entire game disrupting Hofstra’s back line and helping Fairfield rebound from a loss the previous week.

If you would like to nominate someone for his or her play on the field please email tristaterugbyinfo@gmail.com after the completion of your match. Each week one men’s and one women’s player will be selected for Rugby Imports Player of the Week.

Rugby Imports Players of the Week: 9/23/17

Each week the Tri State Conference will honor a men’s and women’s standout performer with the Rugby Imports Players of the Week. Rugby Imports is the number one sponsor of the Tri State Conference and is the one stop shop for all authentic rugby gear, apparel and teamwear.

Men’s Rugby Imports Player of the Week

Player: Nicholas Wallace
School: William Paterson
Position: Flyhalf
Class: Sophomore

Wallace started the game off marshalling his troops and controlling the line speed on defence as they spent all of the first quarter of the game pegged in their own 22, albeit without conceding any points. Wallace settled in nicely during the rest of the game, setting a number of players into space. In the second half, Wallace found a bunch of space, dotting down four times in a 57-7 victory.

Women’s Rugby Imports Player of the Week

Player: Jill Brown
School: RPI
Position: Lock
Class: Senior

The senior captain displayed tremendous poise during a back and forth affair with Fairfield. Brown scored two tries both at key points in the game when the Engineers were trailing. RPI ultimately won 29-24.

If you would like to nominate someone for his or her play on the field please email tristaterugbyinfo@gmail.com after the completion of your match. Each week one men’s and one women’s player will be selected for Rugby Imports Player of the Week.

Rugby Imports Players of The Week 9/16/17

Each week the Tri State Conference will honor a men’s and women’s standout performer with the Rugby Imports Players of the Week. Rugby Imports is the number one sponsor of the Tri State Conference and is the one stop shop for all authentic rugby gear, apparel and teamwear.

Men’s Rugby Imports Player of the Week

Player: Issiah Rosario
School: Monroe College
Position: Flyhalf
Class: Sophomore

Rosario had two tries and six conversions for the Mustangs in their win over last year’s NSCRO conference champions SUNY New Paltz.

Women’s Rugby Imports Player of the Week

Player: Erin Bourke
School: Binghamton University
Position: Outside Center
Class: Sophomore

The outside center played a huge role in our 55-5 win over New Paltz by scoring 3 tries. She also played aggressive defense by making several key tackles in open field, and distributed the ball well down the wing line to help contribute to several of the other tries that were scored as well. The sophomore continues to get better every day and is showing that she will remain a force to be reckoned with for the years to come.

If you would like to nominate someone for his or her play on the field please email tristaterugbyinfo@gmail.com after the completion of your match. Each week one men’s and one women’s player will be selected for Rugby Imports Player of the Week.

Rugby Imports Players of The Week 9/12/17

Each week the Tri State Conference will honor a men’s and women’s standout performer with the Rugby Imports Players of the Week. Rugby Imports is the number one sponsor of the Tri State Conference and is the one stop shop for all authentic rugby gear, apparel and teamwear.

Men’s Rugby Imports Player of the Week

Player: Andrew Starling
School: USMMA
Position: Flyhalf
Class: Freshman

This freshman played a key role in USMMA’s victory. The flyhalf distributed the ball all over the field. ALthough he did not score a try, many were scored because of his distribution.

Women’s Rugby Imports Player of the Week

Player: Melanie Marotta
School: Marist College
Position: Flyhalf
Class: Junior

This junior eally set the tone for us offensively and defensively. She played with great intensity for 80 minutes, finishing with 4 trys in the game and making numerous big tackles, as well as creating turnovers at the breakdown. She played a key role in the leading the team to our first win of the season.

If you would like to nominate someone for his or her play on the field please email tristaterugbyinfo@gmail.com after the completion of your match. Each week one men’s and one women’s player will be selected for Rugby Imports Player of the Week.

Atavus Coaching Clinic 8-27-17

To: All Tri-State Rugby Conference Members

The Coaching Development Clinic run by Atavus will take place on Sunday August 27th, 2017 at SUNY-Maritime College in the Bronx, New York. (Right under the Throgs Neck Bridge).

The first session will start at 9:00 am there will be a break for lunch and then the second session will start at 2:00 pm. Please remember to bring sunscreen and or rain gear. There are numerous lunch places just off campus but we are looking into providing lunch on the base.

The two 4-hour sessions will take place on the turf field and will cover the topics requested by the coaches in the context of attack and defense. Coaches are encouraged to take notes but we hope to video some of the games and grid work so that one can review the material.

All Tri-State Rugby Conference coaches are welcome to attend with a maximum of 3 per team. (It’s fine if a coach wants to bring along the team captain or a senior player.)

​These sessions are paid for by the Tri-State Rugby Conference and will be followed up with 5 one hour Webinars (dates to be determined) and then a further 6 hours of Coaching Support from the Atavus organization.

Please go to this link to confirm your attendance:

https://doodle.com/poll/tdfzh8nuf963ucnc
​

William Paterson Men Represent!

For Immediate Release

College Rugby

Denver, CO

Saturday & Sunday, May 20 & 21, 2017

William Paterson University Men Fly the Tri-State Flag High

The William Paterson University Men’s Rugby 7s Team qualified for the USA Rugby National Division II 7s Championship last month and this past weekend they flew to Denver, CO to compete and boy did they ever! The 2017 Tri-State Rugby Conference 7s Champions did the Conference proud with a host of quality performances.

The WPU Men’s 7s team flew from Newark, New Jersey landing just before midnight on Friday in Denver. The first shock to the system was the elevation, approximately 6,000 feet above sea level, while the second would be the early start on Saturday where they faced the 2016 USA Rugby 7’s National Championship runner up – St. Louis University.

In fact, Pool C also included the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and had been dubbed the “Pool of Death” such was the quality of the teams – the pundits had already written off the WPU Pioneers.

Saturday Day 1 St. Louis came out the gates firing and WPU fell behind 0-12 down within 3 minutes! It seemed the pundits were right. But the Pioneers had other plans and two tries in that half gave the underdogs a 14-12 lead. The second half continued with both teams slogging it out before two more tries would seal the victory – final score 24-26 to William Paterson University.

The second game was played at the home of USA Rugby’s National stadium and here WPU would face the 2017 National Champions favorites U.Wisconsin-Whitewater. After a very tough battle during which WPU scored twice, the Pioneers would go down 28-14. A wayward pass and a few moments of indecision effectively allowed Whitewater to sneak home. The elevation was definitely a factor with William Paterson exhausting its bench to complete the game. But the effort was particularly impressive considering that Wisconsin were fielding 4 All-Americans.

In the third game of the day WPU would face a determined Endicott team in a game that would decide who would go through to the final eight. Endicott had previously scored 6 tries against St. Louis and WPU knew they’d be in a real fight. Two tries by the WPU captain would hand William Paterson the victory against Endicott 14-12.

Day 1 was in the books and the Tri-State team had made the playoffs. William Paterson advanced to the Elite 8 and had a quarterfinal match-up with another northeast team in Southern Connecticut State University.

 

Sunday Day 2 The Southern Connecticut game was a show case of attacking intent and it tuned into a scoring try-fest with both teams running in from every corner of the field. Southern Connecticut would however win in the end, 6 tries to 3.

The fifth and final game of the tournament pitted WPU against Drexel University in a fight for the Plate Final. William Paterson University would lose by a single point 26-27 after leading with 20 seconds left on the clock before Drexel ran in a try and allowed them to squeak the win by a single point.

Having been effectively written off by the press before the competition began William Paterson University was the talk of the town after playing so well in their group games and making it into the final 8. The squad performed well in all their games against very strong opponents.

Epilogue

It is worth noting that two of the WPU loses were against the two teams that would finish 1st and 3rd.  In addition, all wins between teams placed 4-8th were by 2 or less points – testimony to the competitiveness.

WPU Coach Morne Pretorius summed it up well saying, “On any given day a secondary match-up could have ended differently!”

Congratulations to all the WPU 7s squad on their efforts at Nationals.