MIT rugby club wins tournament in Queens
By Cliff Federspiel
Saturday, June 17 was a big day for MIT men's rugby, as the club won the collegiate division of the Rockaways Seven-A-Side Rugby Tournament in Queens, NY. The tournament is the largest seven-a-side rugby tournament in the United States, with 24 collegiate entries and 84 total entries spread between men's clubs, college clubs, women's clubs and a social division.
MIT began their winning streak of five games with a 10-0 victory over Drew. The Engineers then soundly defeated Manhattan 24-0, with three trys contributed by Jonathan How G, to progress to the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, Brett Masters '91 had to leave the Manhattan game with a knee injury, but was able to coach the team from the sidelines for the rest of the series.
In the quarter-finals, MIT came up against a fit team from Vassar College. However, MIT outsized and outran Vassar for another 18-0 shutout victory with several strong runs up the middle by Alec Jessiman and Elmo Pratt.
Progressing to the semi-finals, the Engineers faced the defending champions from Xavier. In a toughly fought match, the Engineers shut out Xavier 6-0 with a try from Dan McCarthy.
In the finals MIT faced Northeastern. Though the Engineers were weary after four games, they came on strong in this game with some great plays by Chevy Vithiananthan G, McCarthy, T. J. Cradick, and Ed Sweeney G, and beat Northeastern 20-3 to take the championship.
At the awards ceremony, MIT's captain, Tom McCallum G was named the most valuable player. Other players who contributed throughout the championship were Warren Brown '89, Cliff Federspiel G, and Steve Eikenberry '90.
MIT will compete next month in the Ten Good Men rugby tournament in Maynard, MA.
(Cliff Federspiel G is a member of the men's rugby club.)
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