University Park, PA – Penn State Men's Rugby traveled to Annapolis, MD Saturday to face off against rival Navy. While some bright spots in the match, the team fell 22-39 to a strong Navy team.
Penn State looked to get on the board early through sustained pressure off the opening kickoff, but Navy's defense held strong, and a Penn State error followed by a counterattack from the Academy, saw PSU on the heels and giving up the first points of the match, 0-7 Navy 9 minutes into the match. Penn State responded with a penalty from Dalton Musselman to close the gap, 3-7. From then it was all the Naval Academy as they jumped out to a 3-19 lead. Midway through the half Penn State gathered some momentum and began closing the gap with two converted tries from Campbell Halloran and Ian Roudybush. Navy got one more of their own and closed out the half, 17-26 in favor of Navy.
After regrouping at half-time, Penn State came out firing in the second half and got on the board early, Ian Roudybush crashed over for his second closing the gap to within 4, 22-26. Some ill-discipline hurt the Lions as the team gave away multiple penalties, Navy capitalized with 2 penalties to stretch the lead, 22-32.
It was back and forth for the next 20 minutes with both teams trading blows but neither being able to put the game away. With time dying down, Navy put the final blow to the Lions with a try in the 74th minute finishing the match 22-39 in favor of the Academy.
Some bright moments for the Lions as some new blood got the opportunity to earn their first starts and made an impact on the match.
Next up Penn State Rugby will celebrate our 60th Anniversary the weekend of 14-16 October when we take on Army, West Point at home, 11:00am Saturday, 15 October on West Campus Fields.
You can follow the team on social media @PennStateMRugby
