University Park, Pa. – The Navy men's rugby team (12-1), ranked No. 1 in the country, went on the road Saturday afternoon and defeated No. 14 Penn State (4-6) 29-26.

"It was a sloppy match today," said Naval Academy Director of Rugby Gavin Hickie. "The weather conditions made it very challenging and proved to be an equalizer."

The Mids opened the match with a quick score when Trevor Gayron found the try zone in the fourth-minute.

The Nittany Lions responded with two tries in a span of 10 minutes to take a 14-5 lead.

Navy answered back with a pair of tries of its own by Avion Ganse and Andrew Baublitz.

Ganse recorded his fifth try of the season and the first of the spring 17:50 into the match.

Thirty-four seconds later, Baublitz added his first try this spring at 18:24 and extended his team-best tries scored on the season to 14 to give Navy a 15-14 lead.

Neither team would score the rest of the half as the Mids clung to the one point lead at the intermission.

Ian Bullock extended Navy's lead to six at 20-14 with his first try of the season in the 48th-minute mark.

Penn State would come right back with two tries in a span of six minutes to take a 26-22 lead at the 58th-minute.

Sophomore center Jake Cornelius scored what proved to be the match-winning points in the 66th-minute with his try.

The Navy defense was stout the remainder of the match to hold on for the narrow victory.

"We struggled to retain possessions and execute the way we wanted to today," said Hickie. "With all that said, we still won a tough game on the road so we should be happy with the win. We will be a lot better in our next outing."
 
Box Score
No. 1 Navy 29, No. 14 Penn State 26
First Half

3:10 – Try – Navy – Trevor Gayron (5-0)

8:32 – Try – Penn State (5-5)
Conversion kick – Penn State (5-7)

12:38 – Try – Penn State (5-12)
Conversion kick – Penn State (5-14)

17:50 – Try – Navy – Avion Ganse (10-14)

18:24 – Try – Navy – Andrew Baublitz (15-14)

Second Half

47:52 – Try – Navy – Ian Bullock (20-14)
Conversion kick – Roanin Krieger (22-14)

50:20 – Try – Penn State (22-19)
Conversion kick – Penn State (22-21)

57:25 – Try – Penn State (22-26)

65:50 – Try – Navy – Jake Cornelius (27-26)
Conversion kick – Roanin Krieger (29-26)