University Park, PA – Men's Rugby traveled to Leesburg, VA this past weekend to take on Navy Rugby in a rematch of the Fall Rugby East Conference matchup. The team played one of their most complete matches this season and defeated a very strong Navy team 40-24.
The match-up was exciting for many reasons and certainly did not disappoint. The match was a curtain raiser for the Old Glory DC v Nola Gold professional match, which featured a few former Penn State players, had potential playoff implications and was a chance to play in front of a large crowd of Alumni and Friends in the area.
Penn State jumped out to a sizeable, 19-3, first half lead. Aidan King led the attacking efforts with a hat-trick of tries in the first half, the first being 3 min into the match. Aidan was also strong defensively turning over Navy in a few key moments in the first half and keeping them from scoring on multiple attacking drives.
Dalton Musselman went 5 from 6 off the tee, but it wasn't just his boot that contributed to the success on the weekend. Dalton managed the attacking efforts and was able to release his centers on multiple occasions which led to some really well worked tries from Jesse Capriotti and Brian Stella x2.
Navy clawed back into the match midway through the second half, closing the gap within 2 points. But Penn State were able to pull away late and extend the lead. Finishing the match up 40-24.
Despite the strong effort and score line, the match just wasn't enough to propel the team into the D1A playoff bracket.
The team will now shift focus to the Big Ten Sevens Series, with trips to Illinois, Purdue and University of Michigan. Capped off with a friendly tournament at Ohio State.
Remaining Spring schedule prior to the Championship season for Sevens:
2 April – University of Illinois Sevens – Champaign-Urbana, IL
9 April – Boilermaker Sevens @ Purdue – West Lafayette, IN
16 April – University of Michigan Sevens – Ann Arbor, MI
23 April – Ohio State Sevens – Columbus, OH
