CHESTER, PA. 6/1/2019 – The Saint Joseph’s Hawks had aspirations of playing in the Cup Round at the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championships. Those aspirations would not be realized as the Hawks were downed by the Arizona Wildcats 26 – 14 in the second game of pool play. The Hawks are now 0 – 2 with another game left on day one.
“Going into this we knew we had a really tough pool,” said Saint Joseph’s Coach Dan Yarusso. “If we are 0 -3 or get by Fordham, we will be a really tough 1 – 2 team, or a really good 0 – 3 team. We’ll have a good opportunity for day two even though our eyes were set on the Cup. It just didn’t work out today.”
The game was an eye-to-eye, toe-to-toe battle. The Hawks were victimized by two Wildcats breakaway tries that proved to be the difference.
“Arizona did a good job of getting through our line and our support,” Yarusso said. “Our chasing back was a little lacking. Credit to them for getting the win in the game.”
SJU fell behind 12 – 0 in the first half, but showed resilience getting a try by Jonathan Ahern late in the first half cutting the deficit to 12 – 7. Saint Joe’s opened the second half riding the Kesh Express to a game-leading try with 6:21 left to play. Aram Keshgegian steam rolled up the middle and across the line for a 14 – 12 advantage.
Arizona scored the next two tries and put the game out of reach.
“That’s the way it goes some time,” Yarusso said. “The sevens is a cruel game as we often say. You need a short term memory and get ready for the next one.”
Saint Joseph’s has one more game to play this afternoon against Fordham. There is still much that this team has to play for in either the Bowl or Plate competition. For right now, they have to get off the floor in an hour or two.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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