UNIVERSITY PARK, PA – The Penn State Rugby team will kick off their 2016 fall campaign with a bang. The team will travel to Kingston, Ontario, Canada, where the Nittany Lions will look to start the season out on a positive note against the Gaels this Thursday, September 1st at 12 PM EST on Nixon Field at Queens University.
The Nittany Lions, who went 10-4 with a 6-1 Rugby East Conference record and was beat by Dartmouth in the first round of the Penn Mutual Varsity Cup National Championship during the 2015-16 season, will need to play rugby worthy of a champion to beat Queens. The Gaels will most likely look to Alex Colborne, Lucas Rumball, and Kainoa Lloyd as they start their quest of a fifth Turner Trophy in a row as the best team in the Ontario University Athletics Conference.
Penn State returns 11 starters from last years’ campaign and will look to the veterans to lead this team. One of those starters, Mike Eife, shared his excitement to get the season underway. “We are looking forward to going to Queens and getting the season going. Last year didn’t end the way we wanted, so playing a quality opponent out the gate will show us where we are as a team,” the senior winger said. In addition to those returning, Penn State will see how the trio of incoming freshman Jordan Crofts (Skyline, Utah), Tommy Capriotti (Doylestown, Pennsylvania), and Kevin Ndou (Pelham, New York) do as they pull on the Blue and White for the first time. “This is an exciting freshman class with a lot of potential. We’ll look to some of them to step in and contribute right away,” said second year head coach Blake Burdette.
The Gaels and Nittany Lions hope that this will be a game that will be played annually. “At Penn State we want to play the best. Based on where we are geographically it makes sense to play one of the top Canadian University in Queens. We are committed to making this a permanent fixture for the years to come,” Burdette said.
In the weeks leading up to this season, Burdette has emphasized to his team that it is the process that counts. The team will look to take a ‘one game at a time’ approach. “It sounds cliché, but coach has really stressed the importance of respecting the process and taking each week and game as they come. This is going to be a good one,” junior winger Connor Cassidy said.
After Thursday’s showdown, Penn State returns to Happy Valley to host in-state rivals, The University of Pittsburgh, on Saturday September 3rd at 11 AM EST on the West Campus Fields at Penn State.
