M. rugby beats Kutztown in semis; women lose to E. Stroudsburg

All season long the Tigers have aspired to defend their Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union league championship — and with Saturday's win in the semifinals, the Tigers are now one game from being back-to-back champions.

After losing its first game of the season to Westchester on Sept. 14, the men's rugby team (4-1) has been perfect, winning four games in a row. The loss on the first weekend put the Tigers in second place in the Blue division of the EPRU.

Going into the playoffs last weekend, the Tigers played Kutztown (5-1), the first place team from the Red division. Since the creation of the EPRU, Kutztown has always been one of the strongest teams in the league and over the past 10 years has become Princeton's biggest rival. Besides Princeton's annual meeting with Kutztown in the EPRU playoffs, the Kutztown team has the reputation of being one of the dirtiest teams in the league. But on Saturday the Tigers manipulated Kutztown's illegal play to earn penalty points and to win the game 43-22.

The game immediately began with the high intensity that has become common in the Princeton-Kutztown rivalry.

Kutztown drew first blood by scoring a penalty kick from 20 meters in front of the posts. But the Tigers marched down the field with a number of tight balls carried by the forwards. Then the back-line finished the drive with series of quick passes to sophomore wing Chris White, who beat the Kutztown wing to the corner of the try zone. Marching back down the field after a Kutztown penalty, sophomore fly half Cameron Young placed the ball five meters from the Kutztown try line.

On the ensuing lineout, Princeton's junior flanker Josh Girvin and the rest of the forwards used a rolling maul to score the second try of the game. Young then scored the conversion kick, to make the score 7-3.

"Taking an early lead was very important for us," Girvin said. "Last year they scored a quick try against us in their opening drive of the game and that really made the game difficult.

"All week we were told in practice that they would roll their mauls against us, so we wanted to prove to them we could score at will on our rolling maul."

The Tigers remained on the offensive after the early scores and never lost the lead from there. Sophomore fullback Johnny Hep-burn scored his own try, with a squib quick from 40 meters out, and he sprinted past the Kutztown defense to score the Tigers' third try of the half.

Princeton then scored a try off of a Kutztown lineout by stealing the over throw from the Kutztown flanker to give the Tigers a 22-6 lead. By the end of the first half, the Tigers led 22-11; however, the Kutztown had momentum after a try at the end of the half.

Earlier in the season, the Tigers would lose some of their momentum in the second half, but senior captain Ben Miller led the team through its best second half of the season. Miller, who had missed the first four games of the season because of a knee injury, made an immediate impact in the game by scoring a try. Together with senior lock Alex Wilson helped the team play its best defensive game of the year.

"Our defense was outstanding today. I don't think we missed a tackle and the only time they could move the ball upfield was through a lucky run by their wings," junior prop Nate Rawlings said.

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The Tiger offense continued its attack on Kutztown with tries by Girvin, Miller and junior wing Naim Abdullah early in the second half. The Tigers had two other good chances to score, but during the drive, fights broke out between the Princeton and Kutztown forwards that stalled the drive. Kutztown narrowed the Princeton lead to nine at one point in the half, but senior captain Mike Balich's try with three minutes remaining in the game ended the Kutztown hopes.

With the semifinal win over Kutztown, this season has become eerily similar to the 2001 season, when the Tigers had a regular season loss to Delaware, then beat Kutztown in the semifinals, and finally avenged its loss to Delaware in the EPRU finals, beating them 22-20. Next Sunday, the Tigers will have the opportunity to get even with Westchester after the early season loss, as the two teams will meet in the EPRU championships.

"We have been planning this all season," Balich said. "We have known all season that we are a better team then Westchester, and on Sunday we will get to prove it. They were lucky when they beat us. We were missing both Cameron (Young) and Bubba (Ben Miller)."

While the men's rugby team had its best game of the season, the women's team lost its first game of the season, ranking them second in the EPRU going into the playoffs.

On Saturday, the team faced off against East Stroudsburg. In a sloppy game, the team was shocked when East Stroudsburg pulled off a 12-10 upset. The Tigers led through most of the game, but East Stroudsburg scored a try with only five minutes remaining. Without much time to play, Princeton drove the ball into the East Stroudsburg zone, but the referee blew the final whistle as Princeton inched closer to a last-second comeback. The loss dropped the team to 5-1, but Princeton still qualifies for the EPRU playoffs, which begin on Nov. 2.

"We played a hard match and dominated them most of the game," junior center Kim Nortman said. "But we saw things we need to work on, and I am confident we will fix our mistakes and come out ready to take care of business in EPRU's."

The women are defending their EPRU championship from last year and hope to meet East Stroudsburg again in the championship game.

(Senior writer Ross Mazo is also a prop on the men's rugby team.)