Brockport Doggies Bite Danes, 34-21

Albany, NY- The Brockport Doggies defeated the UAlbany Great Danes, 34-21, in the final 2009 New York State Rugby Conference match for both teams. The victory puts Brockport into the top 3 and on to the national collegiate tournament while the Danes remained in 5th place above only Binghamton and Cortland.

Both teams had to contend with a steady rain, at times torrential, and slippery field conditions. Missed tackles proved to be the downfall for the Albany side. Brockport’s shifty runners reeked havoc amongst the Albany defense. Albany would continue to fight but could not slow the Brockport offense. Ambery, T, Schafsteck, Santander and Leahy all scored for the Danes.

Danes Out Run Cortland, 39-17

October 17, 2009
Albany, NY – Albany got back in the win column this week with a 39-17 win over SUNY Cortland. Albany opened up with a sluggish first half but would regroup and pour it on in the second forty. Albany was led by co-captain Jack Reisman’s 14 points on a try, penalty kick and 3 converisons. Fullback Rob Schafsteck had 2 trys on kick and chases scores. Alex Trataros, subbing in at wing for Tyler Fritz, scored two tries on the wing. Lock Anthony Russo rounded out the Albany scoring.

Danes Fall to St Bonaventure, 40-24

October 10, 2009
Albany, NY – Albany falls to St Bonaventure 40-24 to damper Albany’s homecoming. St Bonaventure got on the board first when Dennis Mulligan punched one in. 14 minutes later Albany prop Mike Falatyn took off the base of a ruck to plunge in for an unconverted score. St Bonaventure’s Darren Kmicinski would answer when he picked off a 22 meter drop out between two Albany players to scamper in untouched. Albany would bounce back again with center Tom Ambery’s score and a Jack Reisman conversion to bring the Danes within 2.

St Bonaventure would then gain momentum with a penalty kick by Sparks and try by Kmicinski. The Dane’s attempt at a comeback would start and end with a try each by hooker Ryan Wunder and his replacement Matt Shea sandwiched around St Bonaventure’s Will Atkinson try. Final 40-24. Poor tackling proved to be Albany’s down fall where 3 of the tries came right up the middle.

Danes Fall at Buffalo, 12-10

Buffalo, NY- As Willie Nelson sung” On the road againLike a band of gypsies we go down the highway” Albany rugby took to the highway for the 4th game in a row , this time a 10 hour round trip to the University at Buffalo, and lost a heartbreaker, 12-10. Buffalo struck early when Tom Ambery’s clearing kick was blocked and Bufflao’s Steve Jones fell on it in the try zone. Albany would knot the score at 5 with a Dave Santander score in which he touched down off of a driving maul.

Albany would strike first in the second half with lock Anthony Russo getting on the board with a score off of ruck ball. Play would continue back in forth with Albany keeping defensive pressure up but not being able to clear the ball deep enough to get out of their own end. Buffalo fly half Pat McCallum would finally find pay dirt off of a dummy scissors to slice through the line to bring the score to 12-10, conversion made. After a 30min delay for a passing thunder storm both teams took the field well rested for the final 19 min. With back and forth play continuing for some 10 minutes Albany got the momentum off defensive pressure. Albany was able to keep it on with 4 scrum downs and a penalty inside the UB 22 but unable to score. Numerous efforts fell just short against a superb 9 min defensive stand by UB.

Albany will get a nice dose of home cooking with a three game home stand, starting this Saturday against St Bonaventure on UAlbany’s home coming weekend.

Busy weekend for Danes

The Danes, in memory of Alivia L, took to hanging banners, blowing up baloons, directing traffic and offering support to the Light the Night Walk held at the Crossings Park in Colonie, NY. Some 30+ ruggers spent the evening in support of the event before the All "B"lacks game Vs Albany Law on Saturday. The event supports Luekemia research.

The Danes in the second match against Law was a much closer battle than the first match losing to the visitors, 19-17, The Danes fell into a hole after Law capitalized on a couple of long runs to take a big lead. The Danes, Consisting of mainly freshman and sophmores began to get into the groove with an uptempo style that Law had some trouble adjusting to. 8 man Anthony Russo took a number of quick tap penalties to gains significant ground and set up wide side ball for flyhalf Josh Clevenger.

The Danes entire squad travels to Buffalo Saturday for a key New York State Rugby Conference tilt Vs, U Buffalo. UB Just defeated front runner Brockport in a big stadium game in Rochester, NY.

SU Hammers Danes,76-36

Syracuse, NY- SU put the hammer to the Danes this Saturday 76-36 in the second NYS Rugby Conferenced match for both teams. "Bajadita" , the Argentinian scrum technique, implemented by Syracuse proved to be the dominating factor in the match. Syracuse used the scrum effectively to set up weak side winger Sam Cunningham thruough the wide side to blast in for 2 scores. Any turn over Albany created was negated by the SU scrum. Albany managed to close the half still in striking distance with scores by Touhey and Tom Ambery.

The wheels fell of for Albany in the second half when SU went to the high ball which Albany misplayed three times directly resulting in 3 SU scores. Albany would fight offensively scoring on tries by Touhey, Wunder, Berry and Falatyn but could not contain the explosive SU attack.

Albany has a non-conference game Vs. Albany Law School in the 2nd game of a home and home and home series. Albany looks to heal up from a slew of shoulder injuries in the next 2 weeks before heading out to play UBuffalo.

Danes Bounce Binghamton, 24-7

Binghamton,NY- The UAlbany Great Danes bounce U Binghamton in the first New York State Rugby Conference Game for both teams , 24-7. It was a beautiful day for rugby in UB stadium field as the Danes came out determined. Albany started the scoring with Ryan Wunder driving in off of a maul for the try. Binghamton would answer after capitalizing on a misplayed Gary Own as Lock Evan Haber rumbled in off the ensuing ruck. The rest of the half was dominated by UAlbany with Albany scoring twice to take the half time lead of 19-7.

The second half saw Binghamton gain momentum with some spirited play and stretching the Albany defense with quick ball to the backs. Albany's defense showd to be up to the task by shutting the door on Binghamton numerous times. Albany would play a man down, due to yellow card, for 10minutes and was able to muster up a second score by hooker Ryan Wunder.

Albany travels to Syracuse U. on 9/20 to take on a tough SU squad looking to rebound from an opening day loss to SUNY Brockport.