April 18, 2004

BERKELEY, Calif. - For the 21st time the California Golden Bears have qualified for the final four of collegiate rugby. The Cal varsity thrashed North Carolina, 69-11, on Sunday at Witter Rugby Field to advance from the round of eight.

Cal varsity coach Jack Clark was pleased with the victory: "It is a good reward for our team to advance to the finals. We make no pretense about being world-beaters this year. Mike MacDonald aside, we are a fairly inexperienced team, but this result proves that working hard and paying attention to detail counts for something. I'm quite proud of our boys."

The Bears will now advance to the final four, to be played at Stanford on Friday and Saturday, April 30 and May 1. Cal will play Navy, which beat Army, 22-8, while Cal Poly will face last year's champion, Air Force, which defeated Ohio State, 16-13.

Unavailable through injury were All-American fly half Kyle Khasigian and prolific scoring fullback Andrew Blair. The absence of Khasigian brought outside center Robert Weedon to the fly half position and freshman Chris Gurecki to outside center, while sophomore Chase Brogan took over the fullback duties in the absence of Blair.

From the outset the match, the Cal forwards, led by MacDonald, a senior All-American and captain who was playing his last match at Witter Rugby Field, were dominant. Bears freshman Lou Stanfill and All-American Marc Tausend owned the line of touch in attack and defense. UNC struggled to win lineout possession throughout the match.

It was a line out drive in the first minute that gave the Bears the opening score. All-American Anthony Vontz touched it down and Chris Gurecki converted his first. Gurecki was 8-for-10 on the day, hitting eight conversions in a row.

The Bears had the advantage in possession and territory, as the Tar Heels were scarcely in Cal's half. UNC earned its try off a blocked clearing kick.

Gurecki had a try of his own off one of MacDonald's damaging runs. Minutes later it was one of those runs that notched MacDonald the first of his two tries, followed closely by a try for Vontz off a powerful line out drive.

North Carolina then struck back with a couple of penalties, but Cal was building a serious head of steam. The half would end with a DiGirogio quick tap. The All-American half back collected his own chip kick to score a try that left the halftime score Cal 38, UNC 11.

The Bears continued their roll in the second half as Andrew Johnson pounced on a UNC loose ball in goal for a try. All the action was deep inside the Tar Heels' half, as Cal's Michael Boggs would score from a scrum close in, followed by MacDonald's second. Cal senior Colin Wallace stole a lineout and had a long elusive run that set up an Andrew Hanks' try.

Finally, the Bears finished in style with a nice show of hands from backs and forwards setting up a try for replacement Jacques Wilson, leaving the final score Cal 69, UNC 11.

The Scoring:

Trys: Vontz (2), Gurecki, MacDonald (2), DiGiorgio, Johnson, Boggs, Hanks, Wilson

Cons: Gurecki (8/10)

Pens: Gurecki (1/1)

The Team:

15. Brogan, 14. Johnson, 13. Gurecki, 12. Donnolley, 11. Hanks, 10. Weedon, (Castles, 69), 9. DiGiorgio, (Wilson, 55), 8. Boggs, 7. Welch, 6. Wallace, 5. Stanfill, 4. Tausend, 3. MacDonald, (Captain), (McDivitt, 75), 2. Vontz, 1. Dorosti