Vassar College Men Score 9 Tries to Top Drew

MADISON, NJ – In their third conference game of the year, the Vassar College Men scored a total of 9 tries, racking up 45 points, to which they added 6 of 9 conversions and that earned them victory on the road at Drew University in New Jersey. Drew managed 3 scores of their own but the result was never in doubt as Vassar led 19-0 after 15 minutes and never looked back.

Vassar College Men 57 v 19 Drew University Men
Tries:  Trevor Kennish (1), Joe Simon (4), Dale Lord (1), Nick Crooks (1), & Stephen Kpundeh (2).
Cons: Stephen Kpundeh (3) & Trevor Kennish (3).

It was wonderful to have the support of Vassar Alumni at this game and Charlie Williams ‘80, Dave Drury ‘85, Tom Weishaupt ‘07, Garrett Montgomery ‘ 11, and Justin Nam ‘16 were all on the touchline to cheer on the current Vassar squad. A brace of tries for Joe Simon either side of halftime were testimony to the Vassar back’s speed. The Brewers jumped ahead with a try from scrumhalf Trevor Kennish, duly converted by him, and led 7-0. It was clear that Drew sort to push the ball wide but when pinned back they kicked to clear their line. Twice they kicked and before they got possession again Vassar had scored.

But the Brewers were less than impressive as they allowed the home team back into the contest having built a 19-0 lead. It was worrying that they did not stamp any authority on the game and dictate the play. The Vassar back division was slow to get into position on either attack or defense and better teams will expose them in the future. Drew accepted the invitation to play and for a good 25 minutes leading up to halftime it was an even affair. Both teams lacked direction in terms of control and it was very much tit-for-tat and an error ridden contest.

Both teams scored once more in the first 40 minutes and at the mid-point it was Vassar ahead 24-5.

In the second 40 Vassar definitely showed more of a disciplined attack but it was still messy and unsatisfying from a tactical viewpoint. The ball was turned over too often as the opposition stripped the ball and it didn’t help that the game was very stop start so if it wasn’t a player handling error, then it would be a transgression leading to a penalty.

There were flashes of good play including better lineouts this week, a wonderful cover tackle by rookie Evan Roberts, who must have Welsh blood in him given the quality of his play, and Rob Eder made some good tackles. But it is consistency and discipline that are lacking at the moment.

Hopefully, the Vassar players will put this game in the rearview mirror now and focus on getting much, much better in preparation for the tougher games right ahead.

Team: 15 Nate Cuson 14 Stephen Kpundeh 13 Joe Simon 12 Seamus Taylor 11 Joe Griffen 10 Nick Olkovsky 9 Trevor Kennish 1 Louie Brown 2 Ankit Khosla 3 Dale Lord 4 Nick Crooks 5 Anthony Varghese 6 Anthony Brown 7 Evan Roberts 8 Rob Eder
Subs: Ian Quinn for Anthony Brown, Dawkin Erceg for Nate Cuson, Jim Wang for Stephen Kpundeh, Jonayed Ahmed, Mit Patel, Bailey Piotrowski, Gino Ruiz, Min Jhang, & Brian Lee.
Injured/sick: Kaden Wood, Kushin Mukherjee, Russel Spiro, Jonathan Mozoon & Charlie Hooghkirk.

Unavailable: Reece Guo, Ghali Khalil, Robert Elizardo, Marcin Williams & Dean Spyropoulos.

Overall record: 3-0-0

Next week, Sunday, October 2, versus SUNY-Maritime – Kickoff 2:00 p.m. at Vassar College Farm.