Men's Rugby | 4/14/2015 6:08:00 PM

ELLENSBURG, Wash. (April 14) – The Central Washington University men's rugby team finds itself in familiar territory as they travel to Provo, Utah for the Varsity Cup Semifinals on April 18 where they face top-ranked Brigham Young University at Noon PST.
 
They are in the semifinals for the third consecutive year, and for the second consecutive year they defeating Utah in the quarterfinals.  Unlike last season where they advanced to play The University of California, the Wildcats will have to dethrone back-to-back Varsity Cup champions BYU.
 
"We are very excited to be back in the semifinals," CWU Head Coach Tony Pacheco said. "We are going back to a place we haven't been to in a couple of years, and there is going to be a fantastic crowd and we are going to have to go out there and play well to get a victory."
 
Both schedules draw similarities with CWU and BYU both posting three shutouts on the season and each team reaching the century mark twice. 
 
Both teams come into the game undefeated in collegiate 15's play this season with Arizona State and Utah as common opponents this season.  The Cougars defeated ASU 72-8 in their first match of the season and later beat Utah twice, 50-22 on Jan. 24 and 76-31 on Mar. 10.  The Wildcats have faced both ASU and Utah in Varsity cup the Wildcats beat the Sun Devils in the first round 72-10, followed by an 18-7 win over Utah.  
 
"We have similarities but definitely a lot of differences," Pacheco added. "Both team want to get out in space and run around, they are a bit bigger in the back line but I like our ability to use our skill and our feet to offset that size difference in the back line."
 
Central Washington head coach Tony Pacheco has learned from previous trips to the Varsity Cup that the Wildcats will need to fire on all cylinders if they want to advance to the finals and play the winner of Cal vs. Navy on May 2 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
 
"We need to play a very clean game to defeat a team like BYU," Pacheco said. "When I say clean game I mean minimal mistakes and take care of the ball.  We have to play sound rugby, which we are more than capable of doing."
 
Be sure to follow @CWUrugby and @CWUAthletics on twitter to keep track of the Wildcats' performance this weekend, you can also watch the game live at Wildcatsports.com.