Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Arizona
Men’s Rugby Falls to Arizona
March 23, 2024 | Men's Rugby
TUCSON, ARIZ.- The Army West Point men's rugby team traveled to the University of Arizona to take on the Wildcats in their last regular season match of the season. The Black Knights fell in a close 23-17 contest.
The match as a whole was a gritty defensive battle with neither team scoring 25 points or more. Arizona opened up scoring with a quick try and conversion in the first four minutes. Then, Army's Jonny Haley kicked a penalty kick to get the Black Knights on the board less than eight minutes in.
Arizona answered with a penalty kick of their own with 20 minutes left in the first half. Army, however, did not give up and Ben Richards had a try with 12 minutes left in the half. Then, Haley was able to tie the score going into the half with a conversion.
In the start of the second half, Arizona opened up scoring with a quick try three and a half minutes in. Then, they scored another three minutes later cushioning their lead to 20-10. The Wildcats then scored a penalty kick with 16:50 left in the game.
Army, however, fought until the final horn. Nathan Gould had a try with three and a half minutes left in the game to cut their deficit to eight. Then, 20 seconds later Haley had a conversion.
Despite the late effort, the Black Knights ran out of time and fell to Arizona.
In the coming weeks, Army will put the regular season behind them and prepare for the playoffs scheduled to begin on April 6.
HEAR FROM THE TEAM
Shane Sunday: "It was a tough loss today and we need to critically look at the film over the next couple weeks to prepare for playoffs. We missed the mark today but we will come back better and with more hunger. We will get our mentality right."
Nate Gould: "Today was not our day, although lots of opportunities to look at ourselves and what we can work on for playoffs. The main goal is to work on the future and put this behind us. I'm excited to see what this team has in store."
Players Mentioned
