April 18, 2010

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MARIETTA, Ga. - The California Golden Bears notched nine tries against Penn State in Sunday's national quarterfinal to win, 61-19, at Life University Rugby Complex. Cal will face the Arkansas Red Wolves April 30 at Stanford in the semifinals.

Cal entered Sunday's match with some fresh legs following Saturday's win in the Round of 16 over UCLA and it paid immediate dividends. Flyhalf Keegan Engelbrecht got the Bears going by popping a perfect kick from the Nittany Lions' 22-meter line that winger Blaine Scully caught and touched down in the third minute.

Scully scored a second try to start the second half and flanker Tom Rooke added a pair, with five other ruggers adding tries for Cal. The Bears hoped to exit the East Coast with more rugby to play, and after 80 minutes of effort, Cal could look forward to resuming its April Drive training regimen with more competition ahead.

Match-day captain Colin Hawley said the weekend was "a good platform to build upon. We advanced and yet we know we have better performances still in us. There were spots of the effort that we want, but we had some dips. We have to be honest with that. Hats off to Penn State. As you could see, they scored the last try of the match."

PSU flanker John Knab ended the day's scoring with his try, preceded by Nittany Lions tries from fullback Austin Manelick and flyhalf John Wilson. But Cal proved to be too much for the top team from the Mid-Atlantic region.

"You know what you're up against when you're playing a Cal team," said Penn State head coach Don Ferrell. "Like the rest of the collegiate teams in the country, we aspire to be like them and we want to go toe to toe. Obviously we came out on the short end but we showed a lot of heart. Cal's a class act and I know they're very focused. Arkasnsas State is going to bring it for 80 minutes so I'm sure [the semifinal] is going to be a good game."

"Penn State was a great opponent and they wanted it just as much," said scrumhalf Andrew Mase. "We had a pretty good performance but have so much more to do. We need to utilize these next two weeks to try and grow by leaps and bounds."

In other action that wrapped up the weekend, Army advanced to the national semifinals with a 31-24 overtime win over Utah, while LSU beat UCLA and Texas A&M defeated Tennessee in their consolation matches.

The Scoring Timeline:

03:00 Blaine Scully 5

07:00 Tom Rooke 5, Keegan Engelbrecht 2

12:00 Keegan Engelbrecht 3

18:00 Keegan Engelbrecht 3

23:00 Sean Gallinger 5

26:00 Penn State (John Wilson) 5

29:00 Derek Asbun 5, Keegan Engelbrecht 2

35:00 Jason Law 5, Keegan Engelbrecht 2

40:00 Penn State (Austin Manelick) 5, (Chris Saint) 2

Halftime: California 37, Penn State 12

43:00 Blaine Scully 5, Keegan Engelbrecht 2

54:00 Tom Rooke 5, Keegan Engelbrecht 2

65:00 Colin Hawley 5

68:00 James Bailes 5, Keegan Engelbrecht 2

80:00 Penn State (John Knab) 5, (Chris Saint) 2

Final Score: California 61,Penn State 19

The Team vs. Penn State:

15. Bailes (Hawley @ 46:00, Ring @ 77:00), 14. Muhn, 13. Hawley © (Kelly @ 46:00, Hawley @ 77:00), 12. Gallinger (Braun @ 67:00), 11.Scully, 10. Engelbrecht, 9. Mase, 1. Deterding, 2. N. Barrett (Kelley @ 74:00), 3. Strack (Fry @ 62:00), 4. D. Hyjer, 5. Fry (Daly @ 62:00), 6. Law, 7. Rooke (Burrows @ 62:00), 8. Asbun (D. Barrett @ 62:00)

Sunday Summary:

Marietta, Ga.
Pool B:
California 61, Penn State 19 (semifinal qualifier)
LSU 41, UCLA 14 (consolation)

Pool D:
Army 31, Utah 24 OT (semifinal qualifier)
Texas A&M 21, Tennessee 10(consolation)

National Semifinals:

April 30, Stanford
California vs. Arkansas State
BYU vs. Army

National Championship:

May 1, Stanford
Cal/Arkansas State vs. BYU/Army