Crusaders Defeat UVA 29-24

Front Royal, VA – On Saturday, 9/24, Christendom's Men's Rugby won their most important home game of the season vs the Cavaliers of UVA. They secured the win by a narrow margin of 5 points, the final being 29-24.   

The first half was a back-and-forth battle, Andrew Krolick (Senior/Tempe, Arizona) opened the scoring by punching in the first try of the game. The Cavaliers quickly responded and scored their first try soon after. John Kennedy (Sophomore/Mt. Vision, NY) broke the line and scored, giving the Crusaders the lead. However, it did not last as the Cavaliers evened the score. Matt Westin (Senior/George Town, Grand Cayman Island) took over late in the half and scored two tries. Thomas Santschi (Senior/Manassas, VA) went two for four on conversion kicks which brought the Crusaders lead to 24-12 going into halftime.  

The match was very physical as both teams played with intensity and each side suffered injuries. The pace of the match slowed down in the second half. Jospeh Kokes (Senior/Absecoa, NJ) put up a try to extend the Crusaders lead early in the half. The Cavaliers would not back down, scoring two unanswered tries cutting the lead to 29-24. The match went down to the last minutes as the Crusaders suffered a key turnover late in the second half. Nevertheless, the Crusaders defense stayed strong, stopping the Cavaliers last efforts to score as time expired. The Crusaders held on to win their first match in history against UVA.

Up Next: The Crusaders travel to VCU to take on the Rams on Saturday, 10/1 at 12noon.