One last chance for top seed rugby team

By Jonathan Murga

Staff Writer

The past three years has been Groundhog Day for Andrew Kendall and the rugby team, as all three years they have been ousted from the D-II national tournament by the eventual champion.

The Sea Gulls will take a 14-1 record this season, the sole loss happening in the first game of the year, and a number one seed into their first tournament game in the Mid-Atlantic Regionals against the University of Wisconsin.

"They’re putting incredible pressure on themselves," said men’s rugby coach Robert Davis. "This is their last chance to win a championship and get that ring on their finger."

The team showed their hunger in the MARFU semi-finals, beating St. Joe’s 13-9, and dominating the finals against Georgetown 24-12. Derek Chell, the outside center and a senior leader for the rugby team, attributes the success to numerous aspects but truly points to one in particular.

"Work ethic is how we always competed at a national level. We’re not the 15 best rugby players you’ll ever see, but we are going to work harder than any 15 rugby players on the field," Chell said. "So the fact in those last 25 minutes of the game when we can run circles around that other team it just benefits us that much more."

The reason the team is so driven is 10 of the 15 starters on the team are seniors. The national tournament, held in Florida, is two weeks away and for many of these seniors, this is their last moment in the sun athletically. Andrew Kendall does not want to leave Salisbury at graduation with the same bitter taste of the past three years.

"My thing is I’ve been beat the last three years and the team that put us out of the tournament has gone on to win the whole thing — Coast Guard, Middlebury and last year Radford — so I feel like yeah, you can say you might not have gone all the way, but we’ve always had really strong teams," Kendall said. "Every year I’ve come back you feel like there is unfinished business and really this is our last run at it, our last opportunity and there’s not a doubt in my mind that we are the strongest team out there. It’s do or die now, there is no next year."

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