ANNAPOLIS, Md. – In an early back-and-forth match, the Navy men's rugby team (4-0, 2-0) posted a second half shutout to knock off fellow Rugby East foe Penn State (0-2, 0-1) on Saturday afternoon, 35-10.  
 
With the victory on Saturday, the Midshipmen extends their Rugby East winning streak to 18-consecutive victories and are 18-0 in conference play since becoming a varsity program.
 
"We have a plan, we're still in the early stages and only three games in, I can't be too critical. The one thing I'll say, the game is 80 minutes long. You don't win or lose in the 40,50,60 and 70, you win or lose at 80," remarked director of rugby Gavin Hickie. "We're playing all the way to the 80th minute and we're making it hard on teams. We're using all of our depth and developing our experience. There's so many positives within that which is really exciting. I'm very satisfied with the team to come away with four tries in a bonus point win, Penn State scored no points because it wasn't within seven points. We went and did what we had to do, it could've been prettier but overall we got to be satisfied where we are."
 
Both teams were trying to flip field possession in the first five minutes of the match. The Nittany Lions benefited from Navy penalties, driving the ball into the attacking 22-meter zone and moved their way for the first try of the match to take an early 7-0 lead.
 
It took the Midshipmen nine minutes to respond with points of their own. Kicking their way down the field, Michael Strehle would come out of the maul pile and steam his way into the Nittany Lions 22-meter zone. Just like Penn State, Navy also benefited from penalty and elected for a penalty kick to close the gap, 7-3.
 
Five minutes later, Max Smith attempted a bounce kick from midfield and raced his way into gaining possession but was picked away from a Nittany Lion defender. In a clear kick attempt from PSU, Navy was able to snag the ball from the air and displayed great team passing as Avion Ganse located Jake Cornelius who spotted Andrew Baublitz who went untouched for his third try of the season to give the Mids their first lead of the match, 10-7.
 
Each team would add points to the scoreboard before the half. Navy capitalized from a Penn State penalty for not releasing inside its 22-meter zone and mauls its way into the five-meter zone. Strehle caught the Nittany Lions defense off guard with a quick tap and go to take the ball in himself and extend the lead to 17-7.
 
In the final seconds of the first half Penn State to nabbed three more courtesy of a no arm penalty from Navy to go into halftime trailing, 17-10.
 
In the second half it was all Midshipman, preventing the Nittany Lions from scoring any more points while adding 18 more of their own.
 
Krieger added six more points for Navy with a pair of penalty kicks including a booming kick from the midfield line (50-meters). Krieger once again led the Mids in scoring with 15 points off three penalty and conversion kicks. "Having a reliable kicker who can bang them over 50-60 meters is critical," said Hickie. "Roanin is phenomenal, he's the top point scorer in program history and he has another year and half to go. It'll be tough to catch that record. We just need Roanin to keep doing what he's doing."
 
Navy's final stamp on the match came in the 67th-minute mark as Tanner Russell registered his third try of the season for the final points of the match.
 
Up Next
The Midshipman will be back in action in the annual Army-Navy Star Match next Saturday, Sept. 28. The rival match is set to kickoff at 2:00 p.m.