September 25, 2016
Virginia Tech Men’s Rugby Beats Mount St. Mary’s in Closing Seconds
Logos: Virginia Tech and Mount St. Mary’s Men’s Rugby
Doug Coil
Virginia Tech Men’s Rugby hosted Mount St. Mary’s Rugby in a Chesapeake Collegiate Rugby Conference match Saturday in Blacksburg, Virginia. After taking an early lead the Hokies needed to come back at death to win 22-20.
The Hokies scored on their first drive and to take an early 7-0 lead. Mount St. Mary’s then narrowed the lead to 7-3, when Tito Miranda slotted a penalty kick.
Virginia Tech added a try from a infraction by Mount for a 12-3 lead. Mount countered with a Brandon Johnson try, which was converted by Miranda, and the score was 12-10. Mount then had a defensive goal line stand. While that helped to stem the Hokie attack, , they did add a try soon after. At halftime the score was 17-10 in favor of Virginia Tech.
Early in the second half, Tito Miranda narrowed the score to 17-13 when he kicked a penalty over the crossbars. On the restart Travis Bewley found a gap and offloaded to Brandon Johnson for his second try under the posts. Miranda’s conversion was good and Mount had it’s first lead of the match, 20-17.
With no time on the clock, Virginia Tech found a way to run in the deciding try for a 22-20 win against Mount St. Mary’s.
With the win, Virginia Tech is 2-0 on the season and in league play. Mount St. Mary’s record falls to 2-2 with two narrow losses. Their league record stands at 2-1.
Next week, Virginia Tech will travel to the University of Maryland for a Saturday match. Mount St. Mary’s has a home match against the University of Mary Washington.
Virginia Tech Men’s Rugby
