University Park, PA – Penn State Men's Rugby traveled to University of Illinois 2 April for the first of 3 series stops in the Big Ten Sevens Series. An overall strong performance on the team's first outing of sevens this year, finishing 3rd in the standings behind Ohio State and Indiana.
Penn State traveled two teams to the tournament, with PSU jumping up into the championship bracket last minute to give themselves a bigger challenge and a chance to learn the game of sevens for a young group.
Penn State 1 opened the day with 2 pool wins, 48-5 over University of Dayton and 41-0 over Michigan State. Playoff rounds had them lined up against University of Kentucky who they dispatched 31-5 and set the team on a collision course for eventual Champion, Indiana University. The Indiana match was a true nail-biter which ended 17-17 in regulation. Tournament rules meant golden try was the decider. Indiana managed to stretch Penn State's defense and find space for their wing who went over in the corner to seal the match.
The cruel game of sevens often has some redemption and Penn State did just that with a 20-0 victory over Wisconsin in the 3rd/4th playoff.
Penn State 2 had some very close games over the course of the day, challenging all the teams that they played and learning a lot from game to game and finishing he day with a win over University of Dayton.
Illinois 7s Results:
Penn State 1
Pool Play
48-5 v. Dayton
41-0 v. Michigan State
Quarter Final
31-5 v. Kentucky
Semi-Final:
17-23 v. Indiana
3rd/4th:
20-0 v. Wisconsin
Penn State 2
Pool Play:
12-35 v. Indiana
14-26 v. Wisconsin
9th-12th Playoff
19-20 v. Northwestern
11th/12th Playoff
30-5 v. Dayton
The Team will travel to Purdue 9 April for stop two on the series. Brackets and timings to be released this week.
