Sunday afternoon Penn State took on Northeastern in the Plate Championship game. The coaches issued a challenge to the players to play tough after losing to Boston College.
"They responded well. Northeastern was a much bigger team across the board than we were," Penn State men's rugby coach Terry Ryland said.
Penn State took a 5-0 lead into the second half against Northeastern. Toward the end of the game, the Ruggers held a marginal 7-5 lead, with Northeastern knocking on the door to score again. Penn State held its ground making three or four tackles inside the 10-meter line. The Ruggers forced a scrum that they ended up winning, which was followed by a Northeastern foul that gave Penn State the opportunity to convert a penalty kick. The successful conversion put the Ruggers up 10-5 and they held on for the victory.
The Ruggers began the tournament on Saturday against SUNY-Buffalo. They came away with a 17-0 victory. Going into the wind, Penn State scored several tries because the one side of the field was less muddy than the other.
"We had to tell our skill players not to kick into the wind," Ryland said. "We just tried to keep possession and battle for a 0-0 score and wait for the wind."
The second match Saturday pitted the Ruggers against Boston College. Penn State ended up losing 5-0 because it played an undisciplined game. The style Penn State likes to play involves speed, and mud hinders that game plan. Penalties and turnovers added up against Boston College and Penn State totaled more than 20 in the match.
Sunday began with a match against Cornell.
Compared to the match against Boston College, the Ruggers maintained their composure and only committed four penalties.
"We made some personnel moves [on Sunday]," Ryland said. "Some kids got to play who would normally be [substitutes] on a bigger field."
The Ruggers overcame the weather, which has been controlling their play all season long, to come away with a piece of hardware for their efforts.
