Dartmouth Defeats University of Buffalo in Northeast Championship Semi-Final

by Tom Monahan '06

Dartmouth Rugby clinched a spot in the Northeast Championship Final tomorrow after defeating the University of Buffalo this afternoon in Amherst Massachusetts. Kick off came at 2 o'clock on a beautiful autumn day in New England.

Dartmouth opened the scoring in the 11th minute of the contest as a scrum on their attacking 22 meter line resulted in a well run crash ball that was recycled to junior center Aziz Sayigh. Sayigh streaked into the corner of the try zone and was able to center it-an easy conversion from co-captain fullback Andrew Caspary made the score 7 - 0. After repelling several effective Buffalo attacks into Dartmouth territory, the men in green took control of the match by marching down the field with several strong backline plays. Ultimately, a penalty in the 17th minute on the Buffalo 10 meter gave captain flyhalf Jesse Blom the score in the corner making the tally 12 - 0. For the remainder of the half the teams settled in both trying to run the ball on each other. Both teams played strong defense, as the backlines dueled for much of the contest. The University of Buffalo was able to come away with a penalty kick in the closing minutes of the first half to make the score 12 - 3 at the break.

The beginning of the second half remained a defensive battle as both teams would periodically drive deep into the others territory only to be pushed back or lose possession. Dartmouth broke the stalemate in the 70th minutes as center Scott Penner took the ball to the corner of the try zone on a 30 meter dash for the score. The University of Buffalo was able to punch it into the try zone at the end of the match, as the scrumhalf dashed over a ruck to make the final 17 - 10.

Tomorrow Dartmouth faces Army in the Final at 2 pm-with Buffalo facing Cornell on the other pitch. Point differentials are considered in determining who receives bids to the National tournament, but both Army and Dartmouth took a firm hold of a slot in this year's Sweet Sixteen with victories today. Army comes in with a perfect record and the # 1 seed in the Northeast Rugby Union-Dartmouth comes in as the #2 seed with a record of 8 - 1. Dartmouth's only blemish came in a 30 - 25 loss at the opening of Dartmouth Rugby's new Corey Ford Rugby Clubhouse. The teams are set to clash again tomorrow-this time it is for the title.