Men's Rugby Advances to Semifinals in Top Bracket at Beast of the East - Vassar College Athletics (2024)

Men's Rugby 4/28/2024 Tony Brown, Head Men's and Women's Rugby Coach

Portsmouth, RI- The Beast of the East Tournament has included 7s since 2022 following the Covid-19 pandemic and there were over 70 teamscompeting on Sunday. TheVassar Men wontheir pool going 3-0 and advanced to the semifinal where the opponent was Middlebury College. In a tense affair it went right down to the wire and at the final whistle only 3 points separated the teams.

Beast of the East Men's Competitive Division 7s

Vassar College Men 31 v 0 Stony Brook University
Tries: TJ Usher (3), Kiran Mullen (1), Kaiden Tocher (1).
Cons: Olly Skeet-Browning (3).

Vassar's TJ Usher caughtthe opening kickoff and set off at a blistering pace scooting through defenders and in the blink of an eye Vassar led 7-0. It was the perfect start for the Brewers who were entered in the top bracket of 8 collegiate men's teams and found themselves facing some big programs.

Stony Brook University had some solid athletes but the hard pressing Vassar defense produced errors and poor decisions. Kiran Mullen collected a try as did Kaiden Tocher later but the real talking point was the tackling and rucking that led to these scores.

The man of the match award has to go to Usher for his hat trick of tries and fierce tackling. The differencebetween the two sides was the rucking and so whenever there was a breakdown Vassar won the ball.

The Vassar men looked very comfortable with ball in hand and the good start was even better when Kiran Mullen showed the defense a clean pair of heels to push Vassar further ahead.

The Brewers were playing with composure and decisiveness on both sides of the ball. Stony Brook was not allowedto settle when in possession and then were pulled left and right by the Vassar attack.

Usher exploited the gaps that were made and it was all over bar the shouting when he scored his third.

Team: 1 Kiran Mullen 2 Kaiden Tocher 3 Dimitrios Tzepos 9 Matheo Dwyer 10 Olly Skeet-Browning 12 TJ Usher 14 Eli Schair-Rigoletti. Subs: Owen McManus for Matheo Dwyer, Zach Prince for Dimitrios Tzepos.

Vassar College Men 28 v 0University of Rhode Island (Forfeit)

The URI 7s team withdrew from the tournament and all opponents were awarded a forfeit.

Vassar College Men v 0University of Maine, Framingham
Tries: TJ Usher (2), Dimitrios Tzepos (1), Olly Skeet-Browning (1).

This game was played on field 6 at the tournament which was akin to climbing the Himalayas such were the valleys and peaks! The support from the Vassar Women's team as well as the parents, friends and alums was special. Once again it was TJ Usher that pulled Vassar back into this match after dropping behind but credit is due all the Vassar players for again looking like a very well oiled 7s machine.

Vassar went up 5-0 after a spectacular length and width of the field try from TJ Usher but UMF came storming back to go up 7-5. Dimitrios Tzepos was the scorer of Vassar's second try and the flanker has really progressed this spring showing a lot of determined running. But a 10-7 lead didn't last long as UMF scored after a couple of missed tackles and at the half it was 12-10.

The message at halftime was to stick with the good ball movement, run hard at the defensive line to offer a real threat and make bettertackles. Usher scored a sublime try as he ghosted down the left touchline and Vassar had nudged ahead 15-12. But UMF capitalized on a couple of penalties and slipped through to score and it was 17-15. It was a grandstand finish when Olly Skeet-Browning broke free after it seemed Vassar had blown a possession and in the last seconds of the game he put the Brewers ahead 20-17.

Vassar's record of 3-0 put the team top of their pool and into the semifinal round where the opposition would be Middlebury College.

Team: 1 Kiran Mullen 2 Kaiden Tocher 3 Dimitrios Tzepos 9 Matheo Dwyer 10 Olly Skeet-Browning 12 TJ Usher 14 Eli Schair-Rigoletti. Subs: Mark Gislason for Matheo Dwyer, Zach Prince for Dimitrios Tzepos.

Vassar College Men 14v 17Middlebury College
Tries: TJ Usher (1), Olly Skeet-Browning (1).
Cons:Olly Skeet-Browning (2).

It was very ironic that Middlebury, certainly the favorite to win this matchup given history, had to employ the least likely 7s strategy to advance.

The first 5 minutes of the contest was all played in the Vassar half and Middlebury was thwarted time and time again and only led 5-0 despite all the ball and pressure. The Vermont based team moved the ball wide, tried to punch through the middle but were met with stern resistance. Vassar, in stark contrast, had possession but twice and TJ Usher sprinted clear and Vassar led at the half 7-5.

Middlebury played the entire second half just picking and running hard at defenders trying to bludgeon their way though. Middlebury brought on a couple of big units who did the damage and went up 12-7. Vassar's Skeet-Browning responded and scored to makeit a 14-12 Vassar lead. From the restart the charging Middlebury ball carriers made inroads and in the dying seconds of the match scored to win 17-14.

Team: 1 Kiran Mullen 2 Kaiden Tocher 3 Dimitrios Tzepos 9 Matheo Dwyer 10 Olly Skeet-Browning 12 TJ Usher 14 Eli Schair-Rigoletti. Subs: Mark Gislason for Matheo Dwyer, Zach Prince for Dimitrios Tzepos.

Epilogue
Although losing the semifinal was a disappointment, the quality of play from the Vassar squad had garnered a lot of respect from spectators, officials and opponents. Vassar had created tries with some sound fundamental elements of play and, if truth be told, some individual brilliance from Usher in particular! The 7s season has been a steep learning curve but this group of players can be very proud of how they have come together to play the game as a unit. The mental toughness shown has been outstanding and one feels that next year there will be tangible benefits in 15s and 7s.