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Brian Kennedy

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Matt Ravalin

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Men's Rugby Shows Improvement Despite Loss to Santa Barbara

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

After a poor performance against UCLA, many questioned whether the Tritons would be able to compete against conference powerhouse UC Santa Barbara.

But UC San Diego came out strong against the Gauchos, and dominated both possession and position for the first 15 minutes of the game. UCSD opened with a strong drive and the pressured Santa Barbara defense committed a penalty at the break down. Fly-half Will Cowell kicked the penalty goal, putting UCSD up 3-0. UC San Diego continued to play well, winning turnovers and ending a well-executed offensive series with a try near the posts, scored by Inside Center Steven Marinero. Cowell kicked the easy conversion, putting UCSD up 10-0.

Santa Barbara bounced back, however, using hard running and quickly taking advantage of overlaps to get two tries on the outside, leveling the scores 10-10. UCSD ended up playing defense for most of the rest of the first half, and Santa Barbara was able to punch through twice, putting the score at halftime at 22-10.

After the halftime break, the Tritons came back fired up and ready to get back in the game. Showing perhaps the best form they've had all season, UCSD quickly put together another impressive multiphase drive, ending with Scrumhalf Chad Allen scoring from a short run. Cowell converted the try and UCSD was within 5 points, with a score of 22-17. The Tritons earned several more scoring opportunities: A penalty by Santa Barbara gave UCSD a chance for 3 more points, but the kick went wide right. UCSD went back on the defensive and the game went without a score for several minutes until Cowell intercepted a pass and turned on the speed, scoring a try in the corner. Cowell was unable to convert the difficult kick, and the score was tied at 22-22 with 15 minutes left to play.

UCSD then seemed to be out of gas from the intense effort, and the defense was not up to the challenge of holding the talented Santa Barbara backline out of the try zone. Santa Barbara scored try after try for the last part of the game, and ended up winning with a final score of 55-22.

UCSD has a bye next week and will resume play on February 2, facing Long Beach State at home.

More Headlines:
Jan 14 - UCSD Men’s Rugby Loses First Game To UCLA
Nov 20 - Men's Rugby Finishes 3rd at Tournament
Nov 12 - Men's Rugby Goes 1-4 at Long Beach Tournament
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