MCLA Rugby Club Loses to Westfield State, 22-19
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J.J. Kolis runs the ball down the field against Westfield State University during the 22-19 loss. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts rugby club loss to Westfield State University, 22-19, on Saturday afternoon.
Although this was the first loss of the season for MCLA (2-1), this is an improvement from their first two meetings with Westfield in previous seasons, in which they loss 58-5 and 59-0.
MCLA again opened the scoring with Ben Alibozek scoring the first of his two tries early in first half. Walt Pecor was good on the conversion for a 7-0 lead.
Westfield then scored twice more in the first half for a 10-7 half time lead. The club came out at halftime and slowly drove down the field with Marcus Neverson getting into the end zone and Pecor splitting the uprights to retake the lead 14-10.
At this point in the match, Westfield's size and numbers became the issue. MCLA started the match with only 17 players dressed and because of minor injuries, both were inserted into the lineup in the first half. Westfield fielded 28 players and their ability to substitute players late in the game.
They were able to repeated pound the ball into the MCLA defense with fresh bodies and scored on two tries to retake and then increase their lead to 15-14 and then 22-14. Alibozek scored again with only eight minutes to go to cut the margin to 22-19, but that was a close as the ruggers got.
The MCLA rugby club is home on Sunday against Southern Vermont College at the Joseph Zavattaro Athletic Complex at 1 p.m. The club will unveil their new jerseys supplied by NucLea Biotechnologies of Pittsfield.
