Four Men Vault to Top of Scorer’s Table
New Men’s All Time Sevens Points Scorer Gavan D’Amore-Morrison
After the conclusion of the spring 2013 semester, four members of the men’s rugby team jumped to the top of the all time sevens scoring table. Josue Guerra, John Jackson, and Wausa Onigbanjo boosted their station to rankings second through fourth with strong performances in the Scott Milley and Capital Cup Sevens Tournaments.
The top spot, however, belongs to Gavan D’Amore-Morrison with 100 points. With his break-away speed and knack for sliding through gaps, Gavan is a threat to score from anywhere on the field.
The four players pass Nick Felton (’12) and Jason Dennis (’12) on the all-time list. These two dangerous speedsters were a big part of the team that won the 2012 Collegiate Sevens Series run by Universal Sports.
Despite the graduations of Jackson and Onigbanjo, it isn’t clear sailing for Gavan. Josue Guerra, an elusive runner and strong goal-kicker, is just a point behind him with 99 points.
Men’s All Time Sevens Scoring
| Name | Tries | Con | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gavan D’Amore Morrison | 20 | 0 | 100 |
| Josue Guerra | 11 | 22 | 99 |
| John Jackson | 19 | 1 | 97 |
| Wausa Onigbanjo | 17 | 0 | 85 |
| Nick Felton | 9 | 19 | 83 |
| Jason Dennis | 16 | 0 | 80 |
Men’s 2012-2013 All-Conference
Four players received second-team all-conference honors during the team’s first year in Division I. The awards were voted on by coaches from each of the eight teams in the East Coast Rugby Conference.
Top Left: Jamal Hadley, Prop, Sophomore
Top Right: Corey Momsen, Second Row, Freshman
Bottom Left: Benjamin Roach, Center, Junior
Bottom Right: Corey Newton, Wing, Senior
Women Split Games in Sweet 16
The women’s rugby team of American International College enjoyed a bittersweet weekend in Pittsburgh, PA. A tough sweet 16 loss on Saturday was followed by a consolation win Sunday, as AIC continues to build a reputation of a top level collegiate rugby program.Given the layout of the bracket, Saturday’s match was clearly the big game of the weekend. Unfortunately, a young AIC team wavered under the pressure of the national championship tournament. Though they seemed to abandon their strengths and allow some uncharacteristic tries to Buffalo, the Yellow Jackets fought hard against a tough Buffalo team and came away from the hotly contested match with full hearts and lessons learned. Buffalo advanced to the national quarterfinal with a 19-10 victory over AIC. The next day, Buffalo rolled Lock Haven 44-0 to advance to the final four.
Men Win Second Consecutive Capital Cup Sevens
On most days, sevens rugby union is a fast paced game involving clean handling and hot nasty speed—unless you’re playing in inches of mud. This past Saturday in Albany, mud invaded all parts of the game. Footing often eluded the players, the ball was covered, and teams had to adjust to a tighter game of sevens than usual.
The team was lucky to take fresh tracks against Albany University’s second team, and racked up a tally of 38-0. The day would get much more interesting in the next game, however, as a clever Albany team played to a 19-19 draw as the Yellow Jackets struggled to adjust to the conditions.
In the next game, the University of New Hampshire defeated AIC by a margin of 17-12. The team was found to be far too flat footed, and the Wildcats were more than willing to play on the front foot.
AIC Walk Away with Victory, Walk On to Pittsburgh
Freshman Aaliyah Cammock competing in the air
Saturday in Brunswick, Maine, AIC and Bowdoin battled it out for a spot to compete in the USA Rugby Sweet 16. After a hard fought match, AIC walked away with a 37-21 win.
This was a game of two very different playing styles, both executed well. While the Yellow Jackets did a great job maintaining possession and putting together multiple phases of attack with ball in hand, the Bowdoin backs put pressure on AIC’s back three through an impressive kicking game. It was clear their strategy was to get the ball over the defensive line as much as possible. AIC freshman speedster Kaila Barnett, did a magnificent job countering these kicks at fullback with the non-stop pressure she faced. Great chases from Bowdoin’s back line created some opportunities for them, however, AIC was able to pressure Bowdoin’s ball carriers and create multiple turnovers. Read the rest of this entry
Men’s Team Finds Success at Milley 7′s
Deshae Edwards breaks away.
The guys were split into two teams. One team filled with sevens veterans and the other with mostly newer players and tight five forwards. The first team went by the Usos, while the second enjoyed the moniker of the Rhinos.
Pool A: New Hampshire, Usos, Northeastern B, Norwich
Pool B: New Hampshire B, Rhinos, Northeastern, Mass Maritime
Rhinos Roster: Jamal Hadley, James Everhart, Shawn Linio, Mike Burgos, Sol Prensky, Demarie Davis, Deon Smith, Thadryan Sweeney, Michael Martinez, Jalil Oates, Ernest Mitchell
Women Run Riot Under the Lights
As the sun set Saturday evening, the AIC women lit up the field in their season opener against Amherst College, walking away with a 116 point victory and zero points conceded.
The score is not reflective of the heart and quality of the Amherst Women. Despite an early point differential, they did not slow or bow their heads during any moment of the game, playing hard and consistently for 80 minutes.
With this warm-up match under their belt, AIC Women are now preparing for a big game this weekend (April 6th) at Bowdoin College. Kick off is set for 1:00pm. The winner of this game will compete at the USA Rugby Division 2 Regional Playoffs in Pittsburgh, PA on April 12-14. From there, the winner will play in the Division 2 National Championships.
Click here for more information on the playoff set up.
Final Score: 116-0
Tries: Kaila Barnett (2), Aaliyah Cammock, Jess Davis (5), Takiah Helton (2), Arayel Hillman (3), Mercedes Minaya (2), Bethany Montague, Haley Schafer (3)
Conversions: Sarah Coucci (13)
Men Overcome Slow Start to Outlast Coast Guard
In the last home game for several players, the men of AIC rugby welcomed the Coast Guard Academy to campus in a one off
Center Sam Seumaala in mid line break
match. Coast Guard came out fired up for the chance to head into the Division II regional with a win and, after many missing many opportunities in the first half, the guys found themselves down 0-5 at half time.
After resolving to fix the line outs and solidify the phase play, the team was off to the races with some great interplay and offloads. Sam Seumaala dotted down two tries and the team finished much stronger. Soon the changes were rung in for Coast Guard and the day ended with the replacements getting a run and a meal shared between the two teams.
Final Score: 12-10
Tries: Sam Seumaala (2)
Conversion: Tyler Nawrocki
Second XV Score: 36-10
Lineup: 1. James Everhart 2. Josh Short 3. Jamal Hadley (Demarie Davis) 4. Deon Smith 5. Corey Momsen 6. Michael Martinez 7. Gavan D’Amore Morrison 8. Anthony Aranda 9. Johnni Dideriksen (Bryce Neff) 10. Tyler Nawrocki 11. Wausa Onigbanjo (Mike Burgos) 12. Ben Roach 13. Samuel Seumaala 14. Corey Newton 15. Nick Tinnirella (Sol Prensky)
Women Sit 13th in Latest Ranking
In the latest rugbymag.com rankings, the women’s rugby team was ranked 10th in the country. Check here for info on the schools and rankings.
Sheila Asante and Bethany Montague look on during a fall match.
1. Washington State
2. Winona
3. Quinnipiac
4. Mary Washington
5. Grand Valley
6. CSU Northridge
7. Temple
8. Utah Valley
9. Shippensburg
10. Bowdoin
11. UC Santa Cruz
12. Humboldt
13. American International College
14. Appalachian State
15. St. Michael’s
16. Albany
17. Stonehill
18. UW La Crosse
19. Buffalo
20. Lee University
Thank you to rugbymag.com for releasing the rankings and best of luck to the Yellow Jackets as they play Amherst College at 7pm this Saturday.
Men’s Team Opens Spring at 2-1
Yellow Jackets receiving a kick off.
After a strong showing in preseason, the men’s team looked to say goodbye to winter and burst into spring with a successful outing at the Four Leafs tournament at Randall’s Island hosted by the Village Lions.
Finding themselves in a pool with Fordham, Bentley, and Iona the team knew it would have at least three good matches ahead of them.
The first match against Fordham started slow, but once everyone settled into the game plan the team ran away with a 33-5 victory. The midfield of AIC was impressive as they ran in four tries between Ben Roach, Sam Seumaala, and John Jackson. Freshmen fly half Tyler Nawrocki started a good day with the boot as he knocked in several conversions.
Wing Deshae Edwards checks his alignment.
Against school rivals Bentley, the the team got out to a quick start through some big play from the forwards. First, sophomore Jamal Hadley thundered through the line from the 22m line to score. Quickly thereafter, a scrum was stolen near the Falcon try zone and eight man Anthony Aranda scooped up the turnover and crashed over the line. Very quickly the score was 12-0. Moving forward, the team rung in the changes and a closer game ensued with the final score being 24-19. The difference being competitive play at the breakdown and winning heaps of turned over ball.
The Bentley game however, seemed to be a Pyrrhic victory as the team moved forward against Iona. A fatigued but talented group took the field but lacked the pace and power to put the game away. Iona did a good job starving the Yellow Jackets of possession and came away with a 24-7 win. Iona went on to win the tournament.
The team will be looking to apply the day’s lessons against the Coast Guard Academy this Saturday (3/30) at noon on their home turf of Ronald J. Abdow field.
Tries: Anthony Aranda, Jamal Hadley, John Jackson (2), Benjamin Roach (3), Samuel Seumaala (3)
Conversions: Tyler Nawrocki (4), Bryce Neff (3)
