SELINSGROVE, PA (November 5, 2022) – Susquehanna Men's Rugby clinched a trip to the National Collegiate Rugby Small College Sweet Sixteen after a convincing playoff victory over Loyola University of Maryland.
After last years defeat to Loyola in the same round of playoffs, the River Hawks were motivated to ensure that didn't happen again. Susquehanna came into the match full of confidence after last week's playoff win over Gettysburg with the final score being 93-7.
The match started off grim as Loyola (MD) was deep in Susquehanna's end of the field for the first five minutes of the match. After Susquehanna held their ground and got possession back with a huge goal line stand they marched down the pitch. By the seventh minute, Inside Center CJ Bass '22 was able to score off of a scrum giving Susquehanna the early lead of 5-0. From there, the match would go back and forth until Loyola scored on a break away try and converting the kick after the score to go up 7-5. The remainder of the first half would see Sean McPherson convert two penalty kicks for goal and Loyola (MD) converting one themselves. The score at half saw Susquehanna leading 11-10.
The second half begin with a quick try by Susquehanna wing, Clint Rowe '24, punching it in in the corner after the team moved down the field. Loyola hit back in just a few minutes with a try to narrow the score to 16-15. Susquehanna had been pounding Loyola (MD) with big runs from forwards, Jacob Tomasulo '22, Tyler MacDonald '22, and Mario Luna '22. At times it took three or more defenders to bring them down as they refused to be brought down. MacDonald punched in Susquehanna's next try as he dragged three defenders into the try zone to score with 18 minutes left, and captain Sean McPherson '22 made the conversion for a 23-15 lead.
Loyola was unable to catch their breath for the rest of the second half as Susquehanna kept the pressure on, and the majority of the half was played in Loyola's end of the pitch. Susquehanna capitalized again with 11 minutes left as a scrum was awarded to Loyola just five meters out of their own try zone and Susquehanna's forwards overpowered Loyola leading to a steal. Susquehanna then scored directly off the stolen scrum as scrum-half Sean McPherson picked it and ran in the try zone from five meters out. With less than ten minutes remaining and the score line being 28-15, Susquehanna looked to milk the clock and continued pounding the ball with their forwards. In the last minute of the match a penalty was awarded to Susquehanna after slowly trudging down the pitch and eating clock. They elected for a scrum and they would go on to score off of it as McPherson had a break away try to finish the game and with a 33-15 victory.
Susquehanna Rugby looks on to the next round which will take place in Culpepper, VA on November 19-20, 2022. With this being only the third time in program history to make it to the sweet sixteen, the squad looks to reach beyond what previous teams in program history have accomplished.
