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Tri-State Cut to Four After QFs

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Tri-State Cut to Four After QFs

Sacred Heart all smiles as they keep winning.

It’s down to four in the Tri-Sate Conference after Sunday’s Quarterfinals.

RPI pulled off a slight upset in edging Seton Hall 22-19 at Seton Hall. While Goff Rugby Report had RPI ranked and Seton Hall not ranked, Seton Hall, in fact, was seeded higher than RPI in the Tri-State.

That was by far the closest game of the four. William Paterson won big, 84-5, over Hofstra, while Siena (over Molloy) and Sacred Heart (over Montclair State) also won convincingly.

Sacred Heart defeated Montclair State 69-12, with scrumhalf Matt Calton having another big game, leading the attack and scoring two tries. Lock Jason Libertelli, who Sacred Heart Coach Ray Peterson called “the heart of the team,” scored a try and was a defensive force, as was pro Chris Coyne.

Siena, meanwhile, looked very impressive in a 58-15 defeat of a good Molloy team.

Despite heavy rain the day before, the game saw plety of scoring.

Siena took the opening kickoff and methodically moved down the field, after knocking on the door for several minutes, they put No. 8 Ryan Powell over on a short pass from flyhalf Mike Gallagher. Molloy replied right off the restart and punched one in to tier the game. It wasn’t until past the 20-minute-mark that Siena re-took the lead. Flanker Matt Demm picked and dover from a ruck. Then hooker Alec Wapshare touched down, and with fullback Brett Gaughan’s conversion, it was 17-5. Molloy scored just before halftime to make it a ballgame at 17-10. But in the second half, Siena pulled away. Flanker Chris Lyskawa made it 22-10, and then wing Drake Sichak took a nice feed from center Alex Fazio. Demm got his second, and then just four minutes later Wapshare earned his double. Suddenly, at 60 minutes, it was 37-10. From there Molloy tried to come back and managed a try, but it was all taking too much time. Demm logged his hat trick, and wings Dave Harlan and Matt Janzen finished off the scoring.

So next week, it’s the semis on Sunday, with Sacred Heart hosting RPI, and William Paterson hosting Siena.

November 6 is the conference final.