Minutes before the Penn State men's rugby team met Princeton in the opening round of the Mid Atlantic Rugby Football Union (MARFU) tournament on Saturday, head coach Don Ferrell could be seen anxiously pacing across the Holuba Hall turf.

"If only we could have a day like that," he said while nodding at a scoreboard that still read 84-0, the final from the Lady Ruggers' win over Virginia Tech.

Ferrell's hope was soon realized as his squad ran around, past and over its opponent.

Led by two tries from inside centre Fabian Roche and four conversions from flyhalf Justin Hundley, the No. 4 Ruggers demolished the upset-minded Tigers 43-0 to advance to the MARFU semifinals for the second consecutive season.

"We played a good game -- not great, but solid," Ferrell said. "We played good defense, which was our main focus, and that helped us generate a lot of scoring chances."

At home for the first and only time this semester, the Ruggers were excited to play in front of their own fans for a change. However, the added intensity was less than helpful early into the match.

"I think the kids were a little overamped. The excitement of playing in front of a large home crowd caused them to make some uncharacteristic mistakes," assistant head coach Terry Ryland said.

Princeton, the benefactor of the Ruggers' sloppy play, had the opportunity to score on numerous occasions. Fortunately, the defense dug in and withstood the early Tigers attack.

Penn State overcame its shaky start and broke a scoreless tie when lock R.J. Krempasky recovered a loose ball for the touch with 14 minutes remaining in the first half. Hundley's conversion was good and the squad led 7-0.

After that, the floodgates were left wide open.

With 26 points in less than nine minutes, the Ruggers took a 33-0 advantage into halftime and secured their 12th victory of the season.

"We got off to a slow start, but we were able to turn it around," Ferrell said. "As soon as our defense took control and our offense started to run, we were fine."

The victory not only moves the squad one step closer to defending its MARFU title and earning a spot in the national tournament, but it also was a sweet ending for 23 seniors playing in the final home match of their college careers.

"It is a tremendous feeling to end on a positive note," scrumhalf Mike Petri said. "And best of all, it gives us momentum heading into the next round."

Penn State will face either Temple or Virginia in its semifinal match next weekend. And with a week to prepare, the squad will be looking to improve in several facets of the game.

"We have a lot to work on," centre and team captain Tim Ryland said. "Individually, we played well. But we lacked cohesiveness as a team, and we will need to fix that."