Men’s rugby 7’s team secures “At Large” spot in national tournament after Allegheny Rugby Union Championships
This weekend, the Geneseo Men’s Club Rugby team traveled to Clarion, PA for the Allegheny Rugby Union Championship Tournament on Apr. 30. The tournament boasts attendance from the top rugby 7’s teams in the Allegheny region, which stretches all the way from Western New York to schools as far as Indiana. The team has racked up a series of significant tournament appearances in the past year to get them to this point.
The Warthogs had an incredible performance during the Fall 2021 season in the Upstate 15’s Rugby Conference; they went undefeated in the conference against Buffalo State, Ithaca College, University of Rochester, Niagara University, SUNY Fredonia, and Canisius College. The 15’s team made it to the regional championship tournament in Malden, Massachusetts this past November, where they went down fighting against College of the Holy Cross and Hofstra University, earning fourth place in the Northeast region. Unfortunately, those losses cost them a spot in the 15’s national championship tournament.
The Warthogs came into last weekend’s tournament on the tail end of another very strong regular season for spring 2022. This past April, the team competed in the Peter Bothner Cup tournament, hosted by Nazareth College. This tournament consisted of more local upstate New York schools, including Nazareth College, Ithaca College, Rochester Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, SUNY Fredonia, the University at Albany, SUNY Cortland, and SUNY Brockport. The Hogs finished third overall in the tournament, defeating Ithaca, RIT, and UAlbany, and went down putting up a real fight against Syracuse. Their performance at the Peter Bothner tournament earned the team some bragging rights, as they competed as a Division III school and took down the Division I teams from Albany and Syracuse. The Warthogs went into the Allegheny tournament looking to redeem themselves and earn a spot in the 7’s national championship this season.
The Warthogs started the weekend at Allegheny strong with a 45-5 win against Robert Morris University. Tries were scored by junior Mike Mamone, sophomore Connor Geraghty, sophomore Connor Coleman, and junior Cam Freedman, as well as freshman David Cross, who made his first-ever competitive try. In round two, the Hogs defeated Slippery Rock University 26-19, with try scorer’s sophomore Caleb Hart-Fungalei, Geraghty, Freedman, and Coleman. In the semi-finals, they defeated Franciscan University of Steubenville with a score of 24-19, with tries scored by Freedman, junior Mike Mamone and Geraghty. In the finals, the Hogs took an unfortunate loss to John Carroll University with a final score of 33-5, and a try scored by Mamone in the second half. This loss bumped them to second place in the tournament overall.
Taking into account a second-place title as well as a strong regular season, the Warthogs were able to earn an “At Large” bid to compete in the National Collegiate Rugby 7’s Championship in New Orleans. Slippery Rock, Franciscan, and John Carroll have also qualified for nationals out of the tournament. The team looks to show John Carroll that there is more to the Hogs than what they saw last weekend, and they are hard at work to make sure that they can perform their very best. The Men’s Rugby Warthogs will be traveling down to New Orleans at the end of the month to compete from May 28-30, and have their sights set on bringing home the national championship for Geneseo.