Men's Rugby 

LYNDONVILLE, Vt. - The Southern Vermont College Men's & Women's Rugby teams played in the annual Snow Bowl at Lyndon State College.  It was an event that lived up to its name.  You had to be careful where you walked because your foot could easily slip through the snow and you could sink down to your waste. There was a trench where the benches had been dug out of the snow but it looked more like the beginnings to a bomb shelter. The top of the snow was covered with an inch of ice.  All in all, however, it was a glorious day of rugby. The sun was shining, there were sub-freezing temperatures, gusty winds, and three to four feet of snow on the ground. Best of all, there were ten different rugby teams at the pitch to participate.  On the guys side, Lyndon State, Lyndon State Alumni, Champlain, Castleton State, Johnson State, and SVC were present. On the ladies side, Lyndon State., the University of Vermont, Castleton State, and SVC were present.

The tournament opened up with Champlain playing Lyndon St. and there game ended in a draw. The SVC Women drew the second game against the Lyndon State Women and SVC came out looking like they had played together their whole life.  Under the senior leadership of captain, lock, Jenny Pierce (Barre, VT), with several rookies on the pitch, SVC jumped out to an early lead as the ball was passed out to freshmen full back, Kiara Bates (Washington D.C.). She made a quick run down the sideline, running on the snow as if it was asphalt, cut in and stiff armed the opposing full back and crossed the try line to touch it down between the posts to score five for SVC. Kicks were almost futile in the snow and the extra point attempt was unsuccessful.  Just before half, Lyndon State was able to get the ball out to their end while SVC's wing and fullback both took a spill in the ice/snow, allowing Lyndon State to score in the corner. Their extra point attempt was also unsuccessful leaving the score tied at half at five a piece.

The second half opened up and Lyndon State had renewed zest, pounding on SVC non-stop, coming close to points several times. But the SVC ladies toughened up and held their ground, making a several phenomenal goal line stands and forcing Lyndon State to knock the ball on. The SVC women dominated the scrum downs the entire game and this scrum was no exception. SVC easily won the offensive scrum and got the ball out to their fly half where, with the wind, the ball was booted deep down field over the head of the opposing full back. The Mountaineers rushed down, made the tackle, gained ball possession and passed the ball out to Kiara Bates, who then tip-toed across the try line and to the center of the post to put the ball down for points. Once again the kick was no good and the game would end with SVC on top, 10-5.

"The girls played great. Lyndon St. is very large and physical. However, they were relatively inexperienced and it showed.  It got sloppy the second half but our defense prevailed. If we were on dry grass, I think we would have done even better, " said men's and women's rugby head coach Jeremiah Madison.

Later in the day. the SVC men had their chance to play against Johnson State The game started great. The Mountaineers received the opening kickoff and drove down past the half field mark. The big men of SVC powered forward and crashed into Johnson State's defense, sucking in several of their defenders creating an overload in favor of SVC. The ball was passed out to senior captain, fly half, Andy Macnaughton who saw an opening in the defense, pressed turbo, and ran around the outside of the defense and to the center of the post without being touched to put the Mountaineers on top. Sophomore full back, Mike Nosek, was successful on the kick to give SVC a 7-0 lead with plenty of time left in the first half. The Mountaineers continued to dominate rucks, scrums, and lineouts, but were unable to put any more points on the board before half, as was Johnson.

The second half opened up and although SVC was still clearly superior, the energy it takes to run on snow and ice showed and the game became very sloppy. No more scores were made in the second half and the SVC Men were guaranteed to advance to the semi-final round.

"Johnson State is a solid team who loves to hit," said Madison.  "Our basics simply prevailed. We rucked, passed, and scrummed better then they did and that is why we prevailed. If we play the rest of the spring as we did here, we will be the team to beat."

Next, SVC men were up again against Lyndon. The winner of which would advance to the championship game. Much of the game was sloppy and Lyndon was able to put pressure on SVC for much of the first half. SVC tried to clear the ball out of their territory with a kick three times but Lyndon States pressure made the kicks nearly impossible. The fourth attempt to clear the ball out resulted in Lyndon State blocking the kick and diving on the ball in the try zone for points. LSC's kick was unsuccessful and the score was 5-0.

The second half opened up and SVC was anxious to prove they were the better team. Halfway through the second half, Macnaughton received the ball out of a scrum and made a beautiful punt to the cross right corner, were a friend of the SVC team from Green Mountain College's rugby team was playing wing, ran down, picked up the ball and dove across the try zone to give SVC points of their own. Nosek was unsuccessful from the difficult attempt on the right sideline and the score was tied at five. SVC had several opportunities afterward, but penalties and knock on's by SVC cancelled the momentum and gave LSC the ball. The game ended with the score tied.

As per rules for the tournament, the game went to sudden death where five different members of each team would attempt a single drop kick from the 22 meter line in front of the posts.  Nosek opened up the sudden death with a successful kick and LSC's kicker followed successfully as well. The other four members from both teams were unsuccessful and a second sudden death was in order with three members this time. None of SVC's attempts were good, however, LSC's final attempt was and LSC won, 11-8.

"It's unfortunate. LSC is great, but I think we were the better team out there," said Coach Madison.  "We just didn't play to our ability and you have to give LSC credit. They stayed after us and were better at kicking. I would have like to see how this game would play out in better field conditions."

The last game of the day was to be the Women's Championship game between solid New England Rugby Football Union Division II, Castleton State College (CSC), and New England Rugby Football Union Division IV, SVC.

SVC women opened up with receiving the ball. They drove down before turning the ball over to CSC. CSC then drove the ball down before turning the ball over to SVC. This is how the entire game went. Neither team gaining a true advantage and underdogs, SVC holding their own against CSC. The only points came at the very end of the game where CSC was able to drive through and touch the ball down. Their kick was unsuccessful and the game ended immediately afterward with SVC down 5-0.

"I am impressed!" said Coach Madison. "I am really impressed! I could not have asked for my ladies to play any better then they did. We can even view it as a win. We played a team two divisions higher than us and we held our own. And this was with a couple of tough calls against us, including Castleton's score. But that is fine. It was a great game. I can't wait to see what the future has in store for our ladies."

The Mountaineer women have their next game against another division two team, Middlebury, at home, on Sunday, April 6th  at 1 p.m. The men have there next game against rival U Albany at U Albany on Wednesday, April 9th at 5 p.m.  The entire community is invited to come out and watch both games. Both the Men and Women will host their annual Mud Bowl Tournament on Saturday, April 19th at SVC. Times are to be announced and more information will be released soon.