NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's rugby dropped a tough 29-22 loss to the Univ. of Vermont on Saturday afternoon at the NU Dog River Rugby Pitch in Northeast Collegiate Rugby Conference (NECRC) action.
Norwich (1-1, 1-1 NECRC) got tries from Shaquille Malcolm, Rhys Humphrey (Warwick, R.I.), Thomas St. Pierre (Warwick, R.I.) and Arick Rebetje (Colonia, N.J.), but it wasn't quite enough as the Cadets fell to their in-state rivals.
UVM began the scoring at the five-meter mark from a penalty kick by Ben Kaufman. Norwich took the lead 10 minutes later by a try from Malcolm. Norwich continued the pressure inside UVM's 22-meter but could not come away with points.
In the 32nd minute, UVM regained the lead from a try by Matt Potter and a conversion from Kaufman. The half ended with UVM leading Norwich 10-5.
In the 41st minute, Norwich got back on top 12-10 from a try by St. Pierre and a conversion by senior Michael Blackmon (Snoqualmie, Wash.). UVM answered with a try three minutes later by Jackson McNally and a successful conversion by Kaufman.
UVM padded its lead to 22-12 at the 50-minute mark with a try by Toby Howe. 10 minutes later Norwich closed the gap to 22-17 with a try by Humphrey.
Both teams battled back and forth, but UVM took advantage of an overload to get down the pitch and finished it with a try by Potter and a conversion by Kaufman in the 67th minute.
Norwich battles to end and is awarded a try at the final horn by Rebetje. However UVM prevailed 29-22.
"Obviously we are not happy about the loss but our work rate and development from previous weeks was an improvement," NU head coach Bob Weggler said. "UVM is a solid team, they took advantage of some of our mistakes, any good team will do that. We came away with two points on the day, a point for four tries and a point for having a defeat by seven points or less. That's a good thing and a reflection of how we played on the day."
Norwich's second side team lost to UVM, 36-0.
Norwich will look to get back on track when it faces No. 6-nationally ranked Univ. of Rhode Island next Saturday, Sept. 27 on the road.
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