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Championship Sunday Recap
Sunday, March 28, 2010
BATON ROUGE - Beautiful but breezy conditions greeted players and fans at the start of Day 2 of the Western Rugby Union Collegiate Championships. The final day of tournament action kicked off at 9:00am Sunday at the LSU University Recreation Sport and Adventure Complex.
The morning began with consolation matches in Division II. On the men’s side Northern Colorado finished their tournament strong with a victory over Colorado School of Mines by a score of 17-5. In women’s action, the University of Wyoming jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they beat Truman State 39-0.
The Division I Men’s and Women’s consolation matches began shortly after. Colorado State was able to beat their rival, the University of Colorado, by a score of 41-18. For the women, the University of New Mexico battled its way to victory, defeating Air Force Academy by a score of 27-11.
The Division II Men’s and Women’s Championship games kicked off at 11:30am. In a close match, St. Louis University muscled their way to victory over Texas Tech, 17-15. Chris Faller, St. Louis University captain, said the game was very sloppy but he was proud of the way the team stuck through it to win. “We just came out and played as hard as we could,” Faller said. “Every time they came at us we just continued to rally.”
The women from Texas Tech had better luck as they defeated Wayne State College 37-5. Texas Tech captain Nkeonye Okafor, was overwhelmed with tears of joy about her team’s victory. “This was our third time coming out here playing the same team,” Okafor said. “We told ourselves that we worked too hard, and that work definitely paid off.”
Division I Men’s and Women’s Championship action kicked off at 1:00pm in two much anticipated matchups. On the men’s side, Texas A&M was able to defeat rival LSU in a very close match, by a score of 20-14. Stephen Rios, Texas A&M captain, said he knew the match would be tough coming in, but is glad the team was able to hold on to win. “I’m just glad we played LSU and were able to get a good fight in with them,” Rios said. “We’re both moving on to Sweet 16 and can represent our Western league.”
In another close match, the women of Texas A&M were able to hold off the University of Colorado to win by a score of 20-3. Catherine Alsop, Texas A&M captain, said the match was exactly what she expected it to be. “They hit us hard and our pack kept together,” Alsop said. “The team did all the work and they did it together.”
With the LSU win on Saturday, they advanced to the final round of 16 in the USA Rugby Collegiate Championships. LSU will compete on April 17, 2010 in Atlanta, GA and is projected to play the winner of Penn State v Delaware match Sunday, March 28 at 3:30pm.
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