Men's Rugby 2/27/2016 3:48:00 PM

CWU Men's Rugby Break Century Mark in Home Opener versus OSU

ELLENSBURG, Wash (Feb. 27) – The Central Washington University men's rugby team exploded for 129 points and allowed zero in its home opener against Oregon State University led by three Wildcats who scored three times.

The Wildcats move to 4-1 on the 15's season with the win and are set for a rematch against Brigham Young University (March 5) in two weeks.

Quick Start

The Wildcats wasted no time grabbing the lead from the Beavers. Martin Van Der Wal gave the home team a quick 5-0 lead 42 seconds into the match. Cameron Marek inflated the lead to 10-0 in the fifth minute with his first of three trys. Marek's second try came on a beautiful chip-kick off the foot of Scott Dean that Marek ran down and jumped on in the try zone.

Dominic Lindstrom scored his lone try of the day in the 10^th minute. Off a Central lineout, the Wildcats recovered the ball and drove the Beavers down to their own 22-meter line. Dean then swung the ball to the left flank and Lindstrom did the rest. The 5-foot-10 wing side-stepped two Beavers and juke the last for an easy try and a 15-0 lead.

"I thought we played well," Head coach Tony Pacheco said. "The boys were excited to get out in front of the home crowd and stretch their legs. They were pretty ruthless in execution."

The first half finished with a bit of history as freshman Brian Nault recorded his first try wearing crimson and gave the Wildcats a 53-0 advantage heading into the break.

Dean found his way into the try zone to kick start the second half. Maverick Schirmer followed suit four minutes later with his second try of the game to give the Wildcats a 67-0 lead.

The second half saw the completion of three-hat tricks as Marek found his third score of the afternoon in the 55^th minute. Ian Wright punched in two trys in the second half to earn his hat-trick.

Nicholas Woods entered the the second half as a substitute and scored three times for the Wildcats in the 51^th, 61^st and 70^th minute.

Nault found his second career score late in the half off a powerful maul that spanned nearly half the pitch. Tyler Enfield concluded the scoring frenzy with his first try of the match in the 40^th minute.

"He's a talented young player," Pacheco said of Nault. "He's just a freshman and we asked him to step in for Aladdin Schirmer who's away this week. He's a strong kids and stil has some way to go but we like what we've seen out of him so far."

Game Notes

13 different Wildcats scored at least one try
The 129 points scored was the second time the Wildcats broke the century mark this season
The last time the Wildcat played BYU was in the Varsity Cup Semifinal that ended 35-8 in favor of BYU
Tanner Barnes returned to the starting lineup after an injury