Individual Game Recaps Aggies Fall Short To Cal Poly 11/17/2007 AGGIES SUFFER FIRST LOSS Saturday November 17 The Aggies perfect record was ruined Saturday when they lost 40-27 to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. Davis wanted to make a statement from the opening whistle as they had not beaten Poly in a number of years yet instead began the game pinned in their own end. Davis would like to forget the first 15 minutes of the game as they played poor defense, made kicking errors, and did their best to spot Cal Poly an early lead. By the time the Aggies had gained their footing they were in a 19-0 hole and it appeared that the game might turn into a blowout. Yet the aggies showed some spirit and finally began to play up to their potential. Davis got their first try on the board when fullback Danny Nolan took a pass from fly-half Julien Howsepian and ran 40 meters past a flat-footed defense. Davis continued the scoring with another explosive run from Nolan. Howsepian added a penalty kick to the total and somehow the Aggies found themselves down only 19-15 at the half. At halftime the Aggies spoke about playing a complete half of rugby and leaving Cal Poly with a win despite their atrocious beginning. Winger Tarick Abu-Aly continued the momentum with a brilliant try. He angled a run inside of Howsepian, who popped him the ball at the advantage line. Abu-Aly hit the hole with pace and touched the ball down for the try. Cal Poly responded with a try of their own after some poor first up tackling by the Aggies, but once again Davis responded with a great individual play when portly scrumhalf John Parshall kicked the ball to himself and hustled past 2 Cal Poly players to touch it down in the try zone. The score was now 27-26 in favor of the Aggies when the momentum changed for good. The Aggies were threatening on the Poly goal line when center Jake Mayers, despite having Abu-Aly open outside of him, went into contact inches from the line. Howsepian took the ball from his teammate and touched it down, but an out of position referee did not see it this way. He ruled that the ball had been held up. The Aggies lost possession after the scrum and did not threaten the try zone again. Cal Poly scored two straight unanswered tries, as the Aggies lost a bit of composure after the break went against them. The Aggies were disappointed to lose a tough game to a rival, but this was a pre-season game and the most important matches are still to come. Problems that have plagued Davis throughout the pre-season killed them in this game. They lost far too much possession at the breakdowns and their forwards were pushed around by the more aggressive Cal Poly counterparts. The backs showed unbelievable talent on individual plays, and had too much speed for Cal Poly to handle, but did not work as well as a unit and had suspect defense throughout the game. With the entire regular season ahead of them, the Aggies have shown that they have the talent and speed to compete with any of them. This loss shows that they need to improve the mental aspect of the game their aggressiveness. Man of the Match goes to bobblehead Nolan for his two tries. UC Davis Aggies 1-15 Ben Reynolds, Gus Brown, Colin Clark, Jim Wessel, Reid Robinson, Robert Meeson, Jacob Litinisky, Mark Miller, Jon Parshall, Julien Howsepian, Tarick Abu-Aly, Tom Warner, Jacob Mayers, Tyler Harisson/Ross Warnloff, Danny Nolan. TRIES: Nolan (2), Abu-Aly, Parshall CONVERSIONS: Howsepian (2) PENALTIES: Howsepian (1) UC Davis Men's Rugby Club 232 Activities and Recreation Center University of California, Davis 95616 Copyright 2006-2007, Julien Howsepian