Women's rugby gets taste of playoffs, men fall one short

While the Drew University women's rugby team lives to play another day, the men's team ended its season on Sunday with a "never-die" mentality that endured until the final second play.

Although the women lost to first place undefeated SUNY Stony Brook 43-7, the team qualified for the Metropolitan N.Y. Women's Division III playoffs by finishing the season in third place with a 3-3 record.

"This may be the best team we've ever fielded here," Melissa May ('08) said. "We posted our best record ever and don't plan on stopping there."

Drew will host the top four teams in the division to play at Mennen Sports Arena on Oct. 28, including first place SUNY- Stony Brook, second place Marist College and fourth place Hofstra University.

Drew will play Marist at 12:30 p.m. If the team wins, it will play in the championship game at 3:30 p.m.

Should Drew win both games on Sunday, the team will advance to the National Championships, where it will compete against the Allegheny division champion on Nov. 3.

Drew's loss to Stony Brook on Sunday did not break the team's momentum heading into championship play.

"Stony Brook has a unique style of play that is similar to the way Marist plays," Dara Goldberg ('09) said. "Our loss actually prepared us for what we'll have to face in the playoffs."

Although Stony Brook dominated the early stages of the game and took a commanding lead, Drew adapted its style of play and battled in the final minutes.

"We've been practicing a new style of defense to counter the unique attacks of Stony Brook and Marist," Goldberg said. "Even though they killed us in the beginning of the game, we really came on strong at the end after we scored."

Since Marist is a near mirror -image of Stony Brook, Drew will have its hands full on Sunday. However, the team remains confident.

"We definitely stand a good chance of winning," Goldberg said. "We lost badly to them earlier in the season, but we are a much different team now."

In a fierce battle for the final playoff spot, the men were ousted by Maritime College 31-26 in overtime.

The men's team left every bit of effort and intensity on the field on Sunday, but walked away from the season with the bitter taste of defeat.

"That team always blows us out," inside center Yasin Abbak ('09) said. "But not this time. They'll certainly respect us a lot more after how we played them."

Despite outplaying and out-hustling Maritime throughout most of the game, Drew could not get any breaks to go its way.

"It was clear to see which team played better rugby," Abbak said. "It's just that all the penalties seemed to go against us, and they got two lucky breaks that made all the difference."

Abbak scored first for Drew, evening the score after Maritime grabbed an early lead.

After Maritime quickly regained the lead, wing Frank Caprara (' 08) scored for Drew to tie the game.

Abbak then scored for the second time in the game to pull his team even again.

"We just never gave up," Abbak said.

"Anytime they scored, we'd answer right back. It was unquestionably the best game I've ever seen our team play."