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April 18, 2009

BERKELEY -

No. 1-seeded California advanced to the national quarterfinals Saturday with a 67-0 win over Minnesota in the Round of 16, with 11 different Golden Bears scoring tries. The Bears will face the Cal Poly Mustangs Sunday at 1 p.m. on Witter Rugby Field for a national semifinal berth.

"April Drive really prepares us," said flyhalf and match-day captain Sean Gallinger, who scored a try and kicked five conversions. "The match is almost like the light at the end of the tunnel, getting to play the game you love."

With the stands filled to the brim, the Bears delivered a victory for their fans as well as their most senior teammates. "It's a great feeling to get out there and play with guys like Ryan Harris and Logan Howard in what might have been their last game on Witter Rugby Field," said freshman Danny Barrett, who started at flanker, scored a try and finished the match on the wing.

"We competed pretty well for the most part. But Cal's No. 1 for a reason: they're good," said Minnesota head coach Loren Lemke. "We came here with the idea of experience. That's what we got. We start four or five freshmen and by the end of the game we had eight freshmen on. Anytime you can be one of the top 16 teams in the country, it's a big accomplishment."

The Bears remain focused as they turn their attention to Cal Poly. "They're a hard-hitting team and not going to roll over," said No. 8 Derek Asbun.

Cal Poly carried itself into the Round of 8 with a 51-point victory over Air Force, including a hat trick by winger Grant Dismuke, to advance to a quarterfinal match against the Bears for the second straight year.

"A score of 61-10 is pretty convincing effort," said Mustangs head coach Nick Massman. "I think we have to start better tomorrow and pay a little bit more attention to our details. We need to improve our basic skills and hang on to the ball. We'll play a little bit different game. We've got a different team that we're going to be standing in front of."

Air Force head coach Major Andy McQuade praised his team's effectiveness at "offloading the ball in contact, trying to keep those phases going. But unfortunately, where I think we started to fall off a little bit was on defense. Cal Poly saw that they could come back against us in defense, and that's really where the game opened up for them. What they did very well was being able to read what we were doing and then doing something different to counter that. That was very good on-the-fly rugby play."

In the Pool C consolation match, Utah came back from a 12-point deficit to beat Bowling Green, 29-17, with outside center Zach Taylor scoring the tying and go-ahead tries for the Utes.

"A lot of young guys got some good playoff experience and got a good win against a good team in the playoffs," said Utah head coach Blake Burdette. "We can build on that, and also we know now what we need to do to be at the level of the other teams, and we'll continue to work to get to that."

"We just ran out of gas," said Falcons head coach Tony Mazzarella. "I'm certainly not taking anything away from Utah. They obviously came back pretty good and they were running pretty hard, so they deserved the win. Unfortunately, we couldn't put it together when it mattered the most. I'm proud of [our team], but it's obviously back to work pretty soon."

The final match of the afternoon in the Cal-hosted half of Saturday's playoff action saw San Diego State punch their ticket to the semifinals with a 44-30 win over LSU.

"It's something that we penciled in as a goal when we first started this whole thing three years ago with the program," said Aztecs head coach Dan Payne of their semifinal berth. "It's great because it's for the kids. They busted their butts and they've worked really hard and they made this a reality."

"We don't miss many tackles, but we missed a few today," said LSU head coach Scott McLean. "All credit to San Diego State; they're a good team. Playing a team like this, that plays hard, is what we need to do to continue on as a program, and we're going to continue to develop to be a good team to reckon with."

In other matches, BYU earned a trip to the semis with its 13-3 win over Arkansas State, while the Saint Mary's Gaels were ousted by Army in Atlanta by the score of 33-26. Army will face Penn State, which defeated Tennessee, 26-12, Sunday for another semifinal berth.

Dartmouth defeated Navy, 53-26, in the Pool B consolation game.

Cal vs. Minnesota Scoring Timeline:

07:00 Cal (Adam Casias) 5

12:00 Cal (Danny Barrett) 5, (Sean Gallinger) 2

19:00 Cal (Ryan Harris) 5, (Sean Gallinger) 2

25:00 Cal (Steven Fujimoto) 5

30:00 Cal (Anthony Estrella) 5, (Sean Gallinger) 2

35:00 Cal (Derek Asbun) 5, (Sean Gallinger) 2

37:00 Cal (Jason Law) 5

Halftime: California 43, Minnesota 0

49:00 Cal (Eric Strack) 5, (Sean Gallinger) 2

53:00 Cal (Sean Gallinger) 5, 2

58:00 Cal (Mark Richter) 5

76:00 Cal (Grant Hyjer) 5

Final Score: California 67, Minnesota 0

The Cal Lineup vs. Minnesota 15. Lombardo, 14. Harris (Nafisi @ 53:00), 13. Howard, 12. Richter, 11.Leach (D. Barrett @ 62:00), 10. Gallinger ©, (Pugh @ 53:00), 9. Ring (Caravelli @ 53:00), 1. Estrella (Strack @ 42:00, Estrella @ 53:00), 2. G. Hyjer, 3. Fujimoto (Strack @ 67:00), 4. Casias, 5. D. Hyjer, 6. Law, 7. D. Barrett (Sproats @ 62:00), 8. Asbun (Burrows @ 53:00)

Cal Poly vs. Air Force Scoring Timeline

07:00 Cal Poly (Jeff Van Meter) 5, (Martine Phelan) 2

10:00 Air Force (Kris Yarlett) 3

16:00 Cal Poly (Jake Levitt) 5, (Martine Phelan) 2

19:00 Air Force (Richie Amisone) 5, (Kris Yarlett) 2

24:00 Cal Poly (Grant Dismuke) 5, (Martine Phelan) 2

37:00 Cal Poly (Richard Herbert) 5, (Martine Phelan) 2

39:00 Cal Poly (Grant Dismuke) 5, (Martine Phelan) 2

Halftime: Cal Poly 35, Air Force 10

44:00 Cal Poly (Grant Dismuke) 5

49:00 Cal Poly (Jared Gamm)5, (Martine Phelan) 2

55:00 Cal Poly (Craig Harter) 5, (Martine Phelan) 2

64:00 Cal Poly (Alex Murchison) 5, (Martine Phelan) 2

Final Score: Cal Poly 61, Air Force 10

SDSU vs. LSU Scoring Timeline:

02:00 SDSU (Anton Mironov) 5, (Stephen Mulhall) 2

09:00 SDSU (Brendan Purcell) 5

14:00 LSU (Saade Bou-Mikaei) 5

22:00 LSU (Saade Bou-Mikaei) 3

26:00 SDSU (Stephen Mulhall) 3

32:00 SDSU (Stephen Mulhall) 5, 2

34:00 LSU (Saade Bou-Mikaei) 3

38:00 SDSU (Zach Heiler) 5, (Stephen Mulhall) 2

Halftime: San Diego State 27, Louisiana State 11

46:00 SDSU 5, (Stephen Mulhall) 2

48:00 LSU (Cody Cadella) 5, (Adam Davis) 2

51:00 SDSU (Stephen Mulhall) 3

72:00 SDSU (Stephen Mulhall) 5, 2

75:00 LSU (Adam Ducoing) 5

80:00 LSU (Eric West) 5, (Adam Davis) 2

Final Score: San Diego State 44, Louisiana State 30

Utah vs. Bowling Green Scoring Timeline:

08:00 Bowling Green (Jason Green) 5, (Sam Polzin) 2

27:00 Bowling Green (Ben Marshall) 5

32:00 Utah (Bryce Jenkins) 5

37:00 Bowling Green (Mark Viviani) 5

Halftime: Bowling Green 17, Utah 5

50:00 Utah (Mike Kimball) 5, (Danny Christensen) 2

54:00 Utah (Zach Taylor) 5

60:00 Utah (Zach Taylor) 5, (Danny Christensen) 2

69:00 Utah (Mike Harman) 5

Final Score: Utah 29, Bowling Green 17

Saturday Summary:

Berkeley, Calif.
Pool A:
Cal Poly 61, Air Force 10
California 67, Minnesota 0

Pool C:
Utah 29, Bowling Green 17 (consolation)
SDSU 44, LSU 30 (semifinal qualifier)

Atlanta, Ga.
Pool B:
BYU 13, Arkansas State 3 (semifinal qualifier)
Dartmouth 53, Navy 26 (consolation)

Pool D:
Army 33, Saint Mary's 26
Penn State 26, Tennessee 12

Sunday Schedule:

Pool A, Berkeley, Calif.
11 a.m. Air Force vs. Minnesota (consolation)
1 p.m. California vs. Cal Poly (semifinal qualifier)

Pool D, Atlanta, Ga.
Saint Mary's vs. Tennessee (consolation)
Penn State vs. Army (semifinal qualifier)