ELLENSBURG, Wash.- The Central Washington University men's rugby team improved to 7-5 in D1A Rugby action with their 48-36 win over Utah Valley University Saturday afternoon at the Wildcat Rugby Pitch.
 
"Proud of the resilience we showed today as we went toe to toe with a very physical UVU side," CWU head coach Todd Thornley stated. "Sure we weren't perfect and made far too many errors on attack, however, we can gain some confidence from some of the good pieces of rugby the guys put together. Thank you to UVU for making the trip, we look forward to Senior Day vs BYU next week."
 
Five different players scored for Central Washington, with freshman center Jack Wendling amassing 20 points on four tries. Senior winger Ian Wright handled the majority of conversion attempts for the Wildcats, totaling 13 points on five conversions (5-for-7) and a penalty kick.
 
The match's physical tone was set early as the Wolverines received a yellow card for high tackling in the eighth minute and were forced to play a man down for ten minutes. The Wildcats did not let their power play go to waste, as senior Scott Dean found Wendling down the right side of the pitch for the first try of the match that was converted by Wright.
 
Central Washington found space again in the 21st minute, as Dean raced to the corner of the try zone to give Central a 12-0 advantage.
 
In the 27th minute, CWU was awarded a scrum near UVU's five-meter line. The Wildcats kept possession following the scrum and Wendling managed to increase Central's lead to 19 after breaking through the Wolverine defense.
 
Trailing 19-0, Utah Valley scored back-to-back tries in the 31st and 34th minutes to close the scoring margin to just five (19-12) heading into intermission.
 
Dominic Lindstrom kicked off Central Washington's scoring effort in the second half after a series of accurate passes by the Wildcats. Lindstrom caught an offload down the left side of the pitch and demonstrated his quickness as he raced past a UVU defender and into try.
 
UVU's Spencer Tulau barreled his way into try in the 50th minute to lessen CWU's lead to 24-19.  
 
Wright kicked through the uprights in the 55th minute for a successful penalty kick. A frustrated UVU side received a red card in the 60th minute due to a dangerous tackle. Mark Thompson III scored shortly after after diving on a loose ball in the try zone.
 
The Wildcats and Wolverines traded tries down the stretch to account for the remainder of the contest's scoring.
 
CWU will return to the Wildcat Rugby Pitch for Senior Day on Saturday, April 7 as they play their final regular season game against Brigham Young University. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. PST.  
 
SCORING SUMMARY vs. UTAH VALLEY
13:00   Jack Wendling 5, Ian Wright 2
21:00   Scott Dean 5
27:00   Jack Wendling 5, Ian Wright 2
31:00   UVU 7
34:00   UVU 5
HALFTIME SCORE: CENTRAL WASHINGTON 19, UTAH VALLEY 12
43:00   Dominic Lindstrom 5
50:00   UVU 7
55:00   Ian Wright 3
66:00   Mark Thompson III 5, Ian Wright 2
69:00   UVU 5
71:00   Jack Wendling 5, Ian Wright 2
73:00   Jack Wendling Ian Wright 2
77:00   UVU 5
80:00   UVU 7
FINAL SCORE: CENTRAL WASHINGTON 48, UTAH VALLEY 36
 
-CWU-