ELLENSBURG, Wash (April. 14) – The Central Washington University men's rugby team played and defeated the University of Utah in a quarterfinal matchup last year in the Varsity Cup, winning 18-7. This year, the Wildcats find themselves in the same position, looking for the same result.
 
"We know each other week obviously, being matched up for the last couple of year," Head coach Tony Pacheco said. "I think having seen how we've played, I think we're a different team from last year and Utah the same. I think it's going to be about those 80 minutes and not so much about our previous matchups."
 
The Wildcats are fresh off an impressive opening-round win against UCLA in the Penn Mutual Varsity Cup that saw seven Wildcats score, including a pair of tries from Dominic Lindstrom.
 
"We're just trying to get healthy from our match against UCLA," Pacheco added.  "We may lose a guy from last week but we picked up a guy we didn't have last week. For us, it's about handling the scout and handling the travel well. Keeping in mind our legs because we are playing in some evaluation this week."
 
The second round matchup will be played on Utah's campus and is set for a 1 p.m. kickoff (PST).
 
"It's very much 'what you see is what you get' from them," Pacheco added. "They run hard, they tackle hard, they scrum hard. Everything they do is 100 percent and they are on the job for 80 minutes. So if you switch off mentally and miss your assignment they will take advantage of it. This tournament is about us getting better throughout, that's the next step. We have to be better this week than we were last week if we want to advance."