Reading, PA - The Penn State Men's Rugby team booked themselves a trip to Houston for the NCR National Championship this past weekend with a narrow 32-31 victory over Queens University.
Hosted by PSU Berks the match had a bit of a home feel to it, and the Lions used that to their advantage in front of a strong crowd or parents, alumni and supporters of the PSU Berks Rugby program.
The Lions opened the scoring in the first minute following some impressive aerial work from Brian Stella, turning over the kick-off and a few phases later Dalton Musselman put the team on the board with a penalty, 3-0 Lions. The Lions held onto this lead for the next 13 minutes before Queens, through pressure at the set piece crossed for a try and the lead, 3-5 in favor of Queens. Midway through the half John O'Toole was shown a yellow card for an infringement at the maul, on the ensuing phase The Royals put in another converted try to go ahead 3-12. The Lions, not to be outdone won another kick-off through some great work from Brian Stella who caught the kick-off and made his way within a meter of the goal line. This pressure resulted in a hard line by Aidan King, try to Penn State, Dalton Musselman added the extras and closed the gap, 10-12. The Lions did a great job mitigating the man advantage, however with 5 minutes to go, an unfortunate lineout penalty put Queens in scoring position and they did just that, extending the lead 10-19. The two score lead didn't phase the Penn State team as they were patient and worked through plenty of phases and time off the clock to work into scoring position. Thomas Treussard crashed his way over the line, Dalton Musselman converted and brought the team with-in two points at the half, 17-19 in favor of The Royals.
The second half started much like the first, Penn State pressuring Queens into a penalty in a kickable distance for Dalton Musselman who was striking the ball very well, giving The Lions the lead again 20-19 two minutes into the half. The Royals responded and off the back of their strong scrum were able to work their way into the Penn State half and eventually over the line for a try and another lead change, 20-24 Royals. The lead would change again 10 minutes later as The NIttany Lions worked phase after phase of attack, something that they have done very well this year, eventually with Aidan King getting his second try of the day converted by Dalton Musselman, 27-24 Lions. With 15 minutes to go in the match the Queens team again off the back of a strong scrum pressured the Lions to an eventual converted try and another lead change, 27-31 Royals.
But as has been a bit of a theme this year, with the clock winding down The Lions managed to move the ball through 18 phases before finisher, Tristan Sommerville found his way over the line, the missed conversion put the Lions one point ahead, 32-31. For the remaining 8 minutes Penn State would play tremendous defense, camped on their goal line for 5 of it and with time expired and Queens attacking a number of Penn State defenders managed to get their hands under a ball to hold it up in-goal and close the match out with a win and to book a seat at the table for the championship match-up against familiar foe St. Bonaventure University.
Next Match: Penn State v. St. Bonaventure, 12/11/2021 AVEVA Stadium in Houston, TX.
