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Cal Wins PAC 7s

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Cal Wins PAC 7s

Cal's Anthony Salaber muscles through. Sidearm Sports Photo.

Cal was virtually unstoppable on Day Two of the PAC Rugby Conference 7s in Tucson, Ariz., and won the tournament going away, but there were some other performances of note.

Cal defeated UCLA 33-5 behind two tries from freshman and former Granite Bay start Sam Cusano, and then defeated Arizona State 47-14 in the final. Cusano continued his scoring run, touching down three times in the title game.

See Day One Report Here. PAC Rugby 7s Day One Latest

Arizona State started brilliantly on Day Two, hammering a very good Utah side 38-0.

"We had no answer for them," said Utah head Coach Mark Drown. "Arizona State is a very good team and we did not play well."

Arizona State took 2nd.
Arizona State 7s team at the 2016 PAC Rugby 7s

Arizona State Head Coach Ian Gregor told his players they needed to be very patient on defense against Utah, and be prepared to play three or four minutes of defense at the start of the game. It was good advice, as the Sun Devils were most certainly patient, and then torched Utah when they got scoring chances. Alex Sandstrom was again a leader and a key player, but youngsters such as DaVaughn Foster and Nate Short showed very well for ASU.

"I was really proud with how our young players faced up to Cal both on Saturday and Sunday," said Gregor. "We were leading at halftime on Saturday, and at the same time, Cal has so mch depth and works possession so well, you learn a lot."

Cusano scored two first-half tries and Russell Webb and Thomas Robles added tries to stake Cal to a 26-0 halftime lead in the semi against UCLA. Webb converted three of the four tries, and converted Keanu Andrade's second-half score as well for the 33-5 win. In the final, Cusano scored three first-half Cal tries, and Webb converted all three before touching down himself for the 26-7 halftime lead. Webb added two more in the second half, while Patrick Barrientes and Nic Mirhashem also touched down. 

Webb ended up with 25 points in the final, and 36 on the day.

"We dealt with two big blows two injuries yesterday, and we knew it was going to be a harder day today," said Webb. "Anyone in the semifinals could have won this tournament but the guys showed character. I am really proud of how the freshmen have come along. Freshmen and sophomores never been away on a 7s trip. It's not easy when you have to deal with the down time, but they were very mature and played well."

Webb said composure was the key during the final. Cal had some iffy moments on Day One - dropped balls and periods where they didn't quite click - but Webb said the players were switched on for the final game.

"Starting with the warmup we came out firing; all-in-all the effort level was there."

Arizona had to work for it to get past a pesky Oregon team, but then put Colorado to the sword to finish 5th. Arizona was 5-1 for the weekend, losing only to UCLA, and that score was 12-10. Utah rebounded from a rough semi to take 3rd.

 

Sunday Schedule:
Time Match #        Matchup                    
1100 13         Oregon v Arizona - Bowl SF 17-7
1120 14         Colorado v Stanford - Bowl SF W-L
1205 15         Cal v UCLA - Cup SF - 33-5
1225 16         Utah v Arizona State - Cup SF 0-38
1245 17        Stanford v Oregon 7th/8th Game 17-7
1305 18         Arizona v Colorado 5th/6th Game 29-0
1325 19         Utah v UCLA 3rd/4th Game 12-7
1345 20         Cal v Arizona State Cup Final 47-14