September 26, 2014
The Hamilton Exiles grabbed a 36-24 victory over Ithaca College in their home opener last Saturday on Minor Field. Coming off an exceptional 33-0 run in the first half, the Exiles fought off a late comeback by Ithaca and held on for the win.
“We played fifteen man rugby,” said Coach John Joseph after the game. “We knew we were going against a strongly coached team so we really tried to bring it.” Having lost to Ithaca in the playoffs last year, the Exiles made sure to come back and get revenge. “We let them get away with one last year but it’s nice to get one back,” said captain Brian Warager ’15.
Feeding off motivation from last year’s loss, the Exiles jumped to a commanding lead featuring three quick tries from Bryce Timm ’15, Connor Stevensen ’15 and Dan Farina ’17, who had a particularly impressive run as he dragged nearly half of Ithaca’s defense into the in-goal area for his first try. “Everything we tried worked, and everyone did their job,” said Warager.
The Exiles continued strongly, with Osaruese Odeh ’16 and Andrew Leopold ’16 both earning their first tries with hard runs. The Exiles seemed to be in complete control of the game at halftime. “We had the sun on our side, we had the wind on our side and we just kept pushing them forward,” said captain Sam Copman ’16.
Coach Joseph commended his team at halftime, noting how the forwards were winning both rucks and scrums and how Hamilton was dominating the lineouts. The Exiles entered the second half looking to run up the scoreboard and make a statement to their league, but Ithaca fought back.
“We got a little tired,” said Copman with regards to Ithaca’s 24-0 run to start the second half. Warager agreed and stated that “there were a couple disagreements with the [referee]…and we definitely committed too many penalties.” Coach Joseph stressed the tackling problems in the second half, saying that for a brief period the Exiles began tackling too high.
However, with one minute to go in the game, Hamilton forced a turnover and Odeh demonstrated himself once again with a strong run, setting up Leopold for a penalty kick. Leopold played well throughout the day, connecting on four out of five conversion kicks and one of two penalty kicks. He hit his successful penalty kick at the end of the game to seal the team’s victory.
The Exiles earned their victory by banding together when it mattered most. “It’s our first home win, it’s really nice, hopefully we can continue to capitalize as the season goes on,” Copman stated. The Hamilton rugby team will face Ithaca once more before playoffs, but for now they can feel confident celebrating their victory and continuing their hard work.
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