Individual Game Recaps Aggies Show Guts, But Fall Just Short 4/5/2008 Saturday April 5, 2008 Saint Mary’s College 29 UC Davis 22 The season is over for the UC Davis Men’s Rugby Team after a heartbreaking loss to Saint Mary’s College. This was the third game of the year between these two sides and each team claimed one victory coming into this showdown. After eighty minutes of great rugby, SMC will be heading to the sweet sixteen for the second year in a row. Davis should be immensely proud of its effort though as they easily could have walked off the field with a win. SMC had received a bye the day before thanks to a forfeit from Washington while Davis had played a tough match against Stanford 24 hours before. Still, the Davis defense came out ready to hit and did a tremendous job of making first up tackles, especially flankers Jonny Volan and Sam Shackleford. On the other side the SMC defense did a great job of limiting the Aggie backline, containing fullback Danny Nolan and wing Tyler Harrisson who have been devastating on offense all year long. SMC struck first through constant offensive pressure. Every time Davis made a tackle Saint Mary’s was ready for an off load, and took advantage of any lapse with punishing running. SMC put in three tries before the halftime whistle while Davis was able to score one thanks to a great driving maul by the forward pack off of a line-out. The Davis forwards gave up weight to almost every pack they played against but punished many using this maul. At the halftime whistle the score was 17-5 SMC. Yet Davis felt confident that with the sun and wind in their favor in the second half they could win the game. David managed to keep the ball in SMC territory but when Saint Mary’s got the ball back they took full advantage as fly-half Matt Leatherby chipped the ball to winger Brendon O’Meara and got a great bounce away from Nolan and right into his hands. He was able to run the length of the field for a great individual try. Still, the Aggies did not hang their heads and continued to apply pressure. Davis was able to score the next three tries, two from fly-half Julien Howsepian and one from Harrison. The score was now tied at 22 and Davis seemed to have all the momentum. SMC did not hit the kickoff ten meters so Davis got a scrum at midfield. But the SMC forward pack turned the scrum and got possession. Their eight-man picked the ball and dished to their All-American center Kevin Swyrn, who had stepped in at scrum half for this particular play. The two combined for a 50 meter try and the score was SMC 29 Davis 22. The Aggies appeared to have a score a few minutes later but it was called back because of some extracurricular behavior away from the ball and the game ended 29-22. Davis certainly had its chances but were turned away on the goal line too many times. Still, all Aggies can have pride in this performance. Congratulations to seniors: Scrumhalf John Parshall, Fly-half Julien Howsepian, Wing Ryan Gamba, Prop Colin Clark, Hooker Dan Hudes Lock Levi Ryan, and Eight-Man Mark Miller. All had great years for the Aggies. UC Davis 1-15: Gus Brown, Dan Hudes, Collin Clark, Reid Robinson, Jordan Bruno (Levi Ryan), Sam Shackelford, Johnny Volan, Mark Miller, Jon Parshall, Julien Howsepian, Tyler Harrison, Tom Warner, Christian Buck (Jake Mayers), Danny Nolan, Ryan Gamba TRIES: Robinson, Harrison, Howsepian (2) CONVERSIONS: Howsepian UC Davis Men's Rugby Club 232 Activities and Recreation Center University of California, Davis 95616 Copyright 2006-2007, Julien Howsepian