ASU rugby squad steamrolls UNC Greensboro 63-3

Kevin Burnette - Contributing Writer

With a devastating, 63-3 win over UNC-Greensboro, ASU Men's Rugby flexed its revamped muscles on Saturday at State Farm Intramural Fields.

Scorekeepers needed a calculator, as ASU charged down the field to score nine tries. Several successful conversion and penalty kicks added to the rout.

In the first half, ASU dominated Greensboro by utilizing superior rucking and mauling skills in forward play, and timely passing and support among the backs. These are the fundamentals of rugby and ASU executed them with discipline and skill.

Game day MVP flyhalf Patrick Mannion scored two tries in the first half. The first resulted from a series of ground gaining rucks by the scrum forwards. These put ASU within a few meters of the try-zone, then Mannion joined the attack and drove through the visitors defense for the try.

Near the end of the half, Mannion spun out of a tackle and wove through ten meters of defenders for his second try of the day. Strong side flanker William Elder contributed to the first half scoring barrage when he picked up the ball from a scrum, crashed into defenders after a 20-meter advance, then passed to supporting weakside flanker and Rugby Club President Jason Kovalcin for the try.

Then, on a penalty play near the goal line, Elder scored a try when he was well positioned in support to receive a pass from winger Robbie Blythe. In other first half scoring, former scrum veteran and new inside center Jason Pass tallied a try that originated from a maul set up by loose head prop Clay Elkins.

The second half had its own ASU heroes. Sophomore Nathan Bonifich smashed and drove through Greensboro not once, but twice for his first and second career tries.

Meanwhile wing Kevin Stogner skimmed along the sidelines, then bee-lined for the try zone with a pass from outside-center Eric Gebicke for his own career scoring initiation.

Toward the end of the match, Greensboro managed to get on the scoreboard with a penalty kick for three points.

Sideline spectator and alumni Mike Lauff said of ASU's performance, "It was good rugby all the way around."

The victory over UNC-Greensboro not only marked the beginning of a new season for ASU but also the debut of new head coach David Rogers.

Field captain and prop Tim Driscoll listed Rogers' rigorous practices and organizational leadership as one of the top factors in Saturday's win.

Coach Rogers was pleased with ASU's performance and remarked on the props' dominance within the scrums over Greensboro.

He also said that "the team implemented a good measure of the strategies and tactics we introduced in practice the past two weeks. We’re getting there."

"But toward the end of the second half our guys seemed to run out of gas. So fitness is an issue. That is something we have to work on before next week's game," Rogers said.

The return of Clay Elkins to ASU Rugby after almost a year on the injured list was a special match highlight. Last October, Elkins was involved in a severe traffic accident, shattering his leg, and has spent the past several months recuperating.

On his part in the Greensboro match, Elkins remarked, "I felt about 75 percent, but it was good to be back."

Led by flyhalf Scott Warren, scrumhalf Greg Schwartz, and No. 8 Brian Kandefer, ASU's B-side also won vs. Greensboro in convincing fashion, with a 29-3 win over the visitors.

Next Saturday, ASU Men's Rugby will see action in Charlotte against UNCC Rugby. This traditional grudge match promises to be one of the most challenging for ASU Men’s Rugby.

This match is made even more interesting when ASU’s William Elder faces off against twin brother Brian Elder playing for UNCC, with both at the flanker position in the scrum.

Golden balloons not enough to produce ASU win

Duke shuts out Mountaineer field hockey team 8-0

Ty Brueilly - Sports Minor Beat

Golden balloons were tied to the Appalachian State field hockey bench Tuesday night with various inspirational statements taped on all of them.

One balloon said, "Standout....make ASU stand out in the minds of others, leave an impression, make a splash."

The field hockey team has done that so far this season despite their 1-6 record. Even though they lost to an extremely talented and experinced Duke University team Tuesday night with the final score being 8-0, the comments afterwards by fans, parents and Duke coaches were nothing but good.

Duke coach Liz Tchou said, "You (the team) are real good this year, you're getting it done, much more oraginized, keep it up."

Appalachian coach Patience Harrison followed Tchous statement by saying "It's really amazing to me that every coach, every parent, every faculty member that has been a supporter during the years has said that the team is playing and is so much better, even their coach (Tchou) said that we look good, better than last year, I cant even say how many people tonight have said that, its amazing."

Appalachian had ninteen corner penalties in the game which allowed Duke for a great position on scoring. And Duke took adavntage of them. Duke actually only scored directly on two of them but were able to get the rebound from others to slap them into the goal.

Freshman Jesse Umstead said, "Our penalties held against us caused a great deal of scoring situations that they took advantage of, offensively we should have drawn some penalties so that we could put ourselves into their type positions."

On the other hand Duke only had one corner penalty which Appalachian did not take full advantage of. Appalachian had a hard time with the transition game which also played a factor in their loss. Meridth White said "If anything what hurt us was our tranition from defense to mid-field to offense."

Another factor that played in their loss was Duke's excellent mid field which enabled Duke to get the ball into the cirlce and either score or get another penalty corner called on Appalachian. White said "they are a really good team thier mid field especially."

Harrison is not about to let this loss bring the team down. What's going to be the hardest thing for the ladies is as Harrison said,

"It's tough on them and their confendence, their challenge is to recognize in fact that we have improved and not let the mental gain get out of them, not get swept away by a game, let it motivate them to push harder and be stronger."

After their loss the team, with their heads held high showed remarkable sportsmanship. The entire team and coaching staff huddled and emotionally and loudly said, "Good game Duke, thank you officials, thank you fans, way to play App." Showing exactly what that golden balloon said, "Standout...make ASU standout in the minds of others, leave an impression make a splash."