Army West Point Athletics
Saturday, October 17
New Rochelle, NY
3 PM
Army West Point
26
at
43
Iona
No. 4 Men's Rugby Stunned, Drops Decision at Iona
October 17, 2015 | Men's Rugby
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – The fourth-ranked Army West Point men's rugby team earned its first loss of the season on Saturday afternoon, falling to Iona by a score of 43-26 in a road matchup.
"I think a lot of little things went wrong for us today, execution errors, poor tactical decisions and we weren't the more urgent, hard working and aggressive team on the field today," said head coach Matt Sherman. "Full credit to Iona, they were deserving victors and put in a tenacious and determined performance. I don't think we put in our best effort or focused performance. That's on me, I didn't have the team prepared to play."
Iona got on the board first, driving the ball down the field and taking the early 5-0 lead with a try.
In the 18th minute, the Black Knights responded as vice-captain Jacob Banarhall dotted down. Thomas Del Pino was able to successfully boot the conversion to give the Black Knights the 7-5 lead.
A penalty kick from the Gaels in the 29th minute made it 8-7 in favor of the home team. They found the try zone once again in the 32nd minute to go up 15-7.
Army closed out the first half with a bit of momentum as they were able to score in the 38th minute to send the team into the break down by 15-14. Sullivan claimed the score as Del Pino earned his second conversion of the afternoon
Iona jumped out again in the second half with a kick-and-chase play to earn a try and take the 22-14 advantage.
The Black Knights answered on the following possession as Banarhall recorded his second score of the evening and Del Pino was again successful on the kick, bringing the score to within one as Iona clung to a 22-21 advantage.
The Gaels would go on a 14-point unanswered streak to go up by a mark of 36-21.
Army was able to dot down once again as time ticked off the clock, but Iona sealed the deal on the ensuing kickoff, scoring again to put the game out of hand and walk away with the 43-26 win.
"We can and we will learn a lot of lessons from today," added Sherman. "We got knocked down, but we will get up and get better moving forward. Firstly, we will never take the field again not prepared to give the full measure of our best effort. Secondly, we will address our accountability to each other to not make repeated mistakes. We will get better at learning lessons and committing as a team to not making the same mistakes."
With the loss, Army falls to 5-1 on the season and breaks a streak of five-consecutive victories to open the season.
Army will return to the pitch on Saturday when it travels to Kutztown, Pa., for an afternoon battle with the seventh-ranked Golden Bears. Last season, Army battled to a 34-30 victory over the Golden Bears in front of a wild home crowd. Kutztown now stands as the only undefeated team in the Rugby East, with a mark of 3-0.
Visit www.GoArmyWestPoint.com for up-to-date information and follow the Black Knights on Twitter @ArmyWP_MRugby and Instagram @armywprugby.
"I think a lot of little things went wrong for us today, execution errors, poor tactical decisions and we weren't the more urgent, hard working and aggressive team on the field today," said head coach Matt Sherman. "Full credit to Iona, they were deserving victors and put in a tenacious and determined performance. I don't think we put in our best effort or focused performance. That's on me, I didn't have the team prepared to play."
Iona got on the board first, driving the ball down the field and taking the early 5-0 lead with a try.
In the 18th minute, the Black Knights responded as vice-captain Jacob Banarhall dotted down. Thomas Del Pino was able to successfully boot the conversion to give the Black Knights the 7-5 lead.
A penalty kick from the Gaels in the 29th minute made it 8-7 in favor of the home team. They found the try zone once again in the 32nd minute to go up 15-7.
Army closed out the first half with a bit of momentum as they were able to score in the 38th minute to send the team into the break down by 15-14. Sullivan claimed the score as Del Pino earned his second conversion of the afternoon
Iona jumped out again in the second half with a kick-and-chase play to earn a try and take the 22-14 advantage.
The Black Knights answered on the following possession as Banarhall recorded his second score of the evening and Del Pino was again successful on the kick, bringing the score to within one as Iona clung to a 22-21 advantage.
The Gaels would go on a 14-point unanswered streak to go up by a mark of 36-21.
Army was able to dot down once again as time ticked off the clock, but Iona sealed the deal on the ensuing kickoff, scoring again to put the game out of hand and walk away with the 43-26 win.
"We can and we will learn a lot of lessons from today," added Sherman. "We got knocked down, but we will get up and get better moving forward. Firstly, we will never take the field again not prepared to give the full measure of our best effort. Secondly, we will address our accountability to each other to not make repeated mistakes. We will get better at learning lessons and committing as a team to not making the same mistakes."
With the loss, Army falls to 5-1 on the season and breaks a streak of five-consecutive victories to open the season.
Army will return to the pitch on Saturday when it travels to Kutztown, Pa., for an afternoon battle with the seventh-ranked Golden Bears. Last season, Army battled to a 34-30 victory over the Golden Bears in front of a wild home crowd. Kutztown now stands as the only undefeated team in the Rugby East, with a mark of 3-0.
Visit www.GoArmyWestPoint.com for up-to-date information and follow the Black Knights on Twitter @ArmyWP_MRugby and Instagram @armywprugby.
Players Mentioned
Scrum Half
/ Men's Rugby
Fly Half
/ Men's RugbyArmy vs Air Force
Saturday, October 29
Army vs St. Bonaventure
Sunday, October 02
Army vs Kutztown
Friday, September 09
Army vs. Life
Saturday, April 16