April 17, 2004

BERKELEY, Calif. - The Cal varsity rugby team defeated the Bowling Green State Falcons, 40-15, on Saturday at Witter Rugby Field to advance to the round of eight. Cal will face North Carolina, which was victorious over Purdue in a hard-fought match, 16-15.

The Bears started a mixed team that featured eight freshmen and sophomores. The varsity had to make a late change for lock Cale Garamendi, who suffered a stress fracture in his right foot earlier in the year and has been ruled out for the rest of the season. That injury brought Miles Jones into the lineup.

Andrew Blair put Cal on the scoreboard first with a penalty kick. Ten minutes later freshman Joe Welch led a Cal break out with a long run to set up a try for Robert Weedon, and Blair converted, bringing the score to Cal 10 Bowling Green 0.

The Falcons were down but not out, answering back with a converted try and a penalty kick to make the score 10-10. Blair slotted another penalty kick, but Bowling Green scored just four minutes before the intermission to lead at the half, 15-13.

Trailing by two at the half was a bit too close for comfort and so Cal ran on All-Americans Mike MacDonald, Anthony Vontz, Joel DiGiorgio and Kyle Khasigian.

With the four impact subs on, the momentum shifted Cal's way. Just five minutes into the second half, freshman and "man of the match" Louis Stanfill had a storming 70-meter run to set up a nice try for DiGiorgio; Blair converted. Soon after Chase Brogan had a penetrating run in midfield; in the next phase Andy Johnson took advantage of an overlap to score and bring the score to Cal 25, Bowling Green 15.

With 15 minutes remaining, Vontz, Johnson and Brogan all scored for the Bears about five minutes apart to leave the score at the final whistle, Cal 40, Bowling Green 15.

Cal coach Jack Clark commented on today's performance and tomorrow's opponent: "Well, I think we kind of limped into the round of eight. Thankfully we had a handful of guys who put in strong performances, because that match could have gotten away from us. They were big heavy lads in the forwards and we did not have the skill to make them move around the field. Maybe it's understandable, this was the first taste of postseason rugby for 13 of today's starting team and the intensity seemed to unsettle us. North Carolina has some good players. We will need to improve on today to advance."

In the consolation match Bowling Green will take on midwest rival Purdue at noon. Cal will face North Carolina in the championship match at 2 p.m.

In other pool action, Cal Poly rounded out two days of play and defeated BYU in the round of eight and will advance to the National Championships. Army defeated UC Santa Barbara and Navy defeated UC Davis. Air Force was a big winner over Tennessee and Ohio State defeated Penn State to advance to their round of eight match.

Advancing to the final four to be held at Stanford on April 30 and May 1: Cal Poly (played Friday/Saturday, qualifies with victory over BYU) The winners of: Cal vs. North Carolina Army vs. Navy Air Force vs. Ohio State

The Scoring:

Trys: Weedon , DiGiorgio, Johnson (2), Vontz, Brogan

Cons: Blair (2)

Pens: Blair (2)

The Team:

15. Blair, 14. Wilson, 13. Weedon, 12. Brogan, 11. Pieracci, (DiGiorgio 36),10. Castles, (Khasigian 40), 9. Johnson, 8. Burruel, 7. Welch, (Tedesco 7-17), (Boggs 61-71), 6. Stanfill, 5. Jones, (Vontz 36), 4. Walker, 3. McDivitt, (MacDonald 36), 2. Sehr, 1. McClenahan