ANNAPOLIS, Md. – In a battle between two undefeated Rugby East teams, the Navy men's rugby team (7-1, 4-1) clawed its way back from a 17-point deficit but ultimately falls short to Life (5-0, 5-0), 23-20.
It was the programs first loss against a Rugby East opponent since joining the league, ending a 20-consecutive victory streak in conference play.
"We weren't accurate enough from the start and we were down 17 points early on and that's inexcusable. We don't make any excuses, Life is a very good team and any opportunities to put up points and get ahead, we have to execute," stated director of rugby Gavin Hickie. "We'll have a very long and hard close look at ourselves because that was not good enough."
The Midshipmen found themselves in unusual territory trailing, 17-0 (their largest deficit of the season), in the first 20 minutes of the match.
Life began the scoring early when it stole Navy's opening possession and was gifted a penalty kick from an offside penalty to go up 3-0 in the first two minutes. The Running Eagles added on two tries in a span of 10 minutes in the 11st and 21st minute to lead, 17-0.
The Midshipmen had multiple attempts to put points up on the board early on in the match. A Life turnover gave Navy possession for the first line-out of the day, junior Max Smith took the line-out and broke off the Mids first long run of the day into the Running Eagles 22-meter zone. Navy's first promising drive of the match was stalled by an obstruction penalty in the eighth minute. In the first 30 minutes of play Navy had three trips into the 22-meter zone and two penalty kick attempts that resulted in no points.
Sophomore Kade Williams showed off his speed as he sprinted down the sideline as he drew a Life penalty to put the Mids in scoring position. A maul was formed from a line-out attempt inside the five-meter zone, the Running Eagles were soon penalized for collapsing the maul in the try zone to give Navy its first seven points of the match in the 31st minute.
Each team exchanged penalty kicks to end the first half. A high tackle penalty awarded Life with three points in the 34th minute. Junior Roanin Krieger drilled his 16th penalty kick of the season in the final seconds as the Midshipmen trailed, 20-10.
Both teams were exchanging turnovers and clear kick attempts early in the second half before Navy's offense came alive with a pair of tries.
Sophomore Aiden Gerber scored the first try in the second half in what was a team effort as the Mids from 22-meters out mauled their way into the try zone in the 51st minute. The back-and-forth play continued for the next 26 minutes until Dalton Sand gets a push from his teammates for the third maul try of the match to even the score, 20-20.
Life was able to force a turnover in the final minute of the match and sprinted through the Navy's defense to put itself in scoring position. The Mids were penalized for an offside penalty inside their own 22-meter zone, the Running Eagles drilled the penalty kick for the walk-off victory.
Up Next
Navy will enjoy the next week off before it hits the road when it takes on Kutztown on Saturday, Nov. 2. The match is set to begin at 1 p.m.
Box Score
First Half
2:00 – Penalty kick – Life (0-3)
10:26 – Try – Life (0-8)
Conversion kick (0-10)
20:17 – Try – Life (0-15)
Conversion kick (0-17)
30:26 – Penalty try – Navy (7-17)
33:11 – Penalty kick – Life (7-20)
40:14 – Penalty kick – Navy – Roanin Krieger (10-20)
Second Half
50:48 – Try – Navy – Aidan Gerber (15-20)
77:58 – Try – Navy – Dalton Sand (20-20)
82:03 – Penalty kick – Life (23-20)
