ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Mar. 29) – The Central Washington University men's rugby team hosts Grand Canyon University for Senior Day.
GAME INFORMATION
Saturday (Mar. 30) at 11:00 a.m.
Tomlinson Stadium
Ellensburg, WA
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"This is a great test to finish off our regular season and solidify our position for playoffs," CWU Head Coach
Todd Thornley said. "GCU are very well coached and have some great athletes that will put us under pressure. We have been improving steadily as the season has progressed, however we know we need to raise our level of play even further to get the outcome we are after this Saturday."
SCOUTING GRAND CANYON
Grand Canyon sits at No. 14 in the D1A College Rugby poll, just three spots behind Central Washington. Grand Canyon recovered from a slow start last week to handily defeat UC Davis, 62-12. The Lopes recorded a shutout in the second half after making adjustments in the break.
"To open the match, we just kind of got away from all of our systems and structures, which resulted in us sitting at 12 all by the end of the first half," explained Grand Canyon Head Coach Cam Wyper. "It just seemed that we turned up and weren't switched on. We came out pretty flat, and UC Davis came out firing, which resulted in the tie at half."
The Lopes enter the week with a 6-2 record. Their last loss came to St. Mary's, 88-15. In the six victories, Grand Canyon has failed to score 60 points or more only once. They opened the season with a 32-21 victory over Cal Poly. The Lopes have been on a steady climb in the D1A rankings in March, starting the month at No. 20 before reaching No. 14 in the latest poll.
LAST TIME OUT
The Central Washington University men's rugby team traveled to Utah Valley University and captured a 32-19 victory.
The scoring started when
Reuben Ludick knocked through a penalty kick to take a 3-0 lead early in the game. The lead wasn't held onto very long as the Wolverines came right back and got their first try of the game to take a 5-3 lead.
The Wildcats took over and didn't look back following the try.
Deven Marshall got the first try of the day for the Wildcats after a great offload from Brenden Marley Ngotel. Ludick knocked in the conversion to give Central a 10-5 lead.
Minutes later, Central was able to work in for another try. The Wildcat forward marched down the pitch and it resulted in a
Riley Schell try and another Ludick conversion to extend the lead to 17-5.
After a Wolverine offside, Ludick was able to knock in his second PK of the game to give the Wildcats a 20-3 lead.
Central got into the try zone once again after Alex Mackenzie grounded the ball following a scrum.
Mackenzie was able to work for his second try of the game eight minutes later off of a botched UVU lineout to make the score 32-5 after a Ludick conversion.
UVU was finally able to capitalize as they marched down the field and found their way over their try line to cut the Wildcat lead to 32-12. Another try moments later then made the score 32-19 in favor of the Wildcats.
WILDCAT LINEUP
1.
Tresten Keys
2.
Riley Schell
3.
Brian Nault
4.
Deven Marshall
5.
Noah Christy
6.Alex Cleary
7.
Albert O'Shannessey
8.Alex Mackenzie- C
9.
Noah Wright
10.
Lewis Hollidge
11. Marques Fualaa'u
12.
Reuben Ludick
13.
Jack Wendling
14.
Henry Foster
15.
Max Riseham
16.Brendon Ngotel
17.
Makani Mafua
18.
Jonah Auvaa
19.John DuPree
20.
Vanya Sturm
21.
Kawika Macy
22.
Jake Szumski
23.Siddique Newkirk
