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Army Women, Men Win At Navy

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Army Women, Men Win At Navy

Army Women Huddle Up.

West Point swept today's action with rivals the US Naval Academy, with the men and women's teams both winning.

In what is usually a relatively close contest, the men's game ended up being more lopsided than usual. In a hotly-contested clash, Army put Navy under pressure early, and from a scrum hammered it up once and then a flat pass to newcomer Dominic Tianga put the flanker over.

Player Spotlight: The Rise Of Dominic Tianga

The second Army try was almost identical—scrum, eightman pick, second phase gets it over. Down 12-0, Navy finally got a chance to get on the front foot, got a penalty, and Chris Altonen put it over from 40 meters out. But Navy gave those points right back. A long clearance kick went out on the full, giving Army a lineout just outside the Navy 22 meter line. Then a penalty at that lineout gave Army a lineout seven meters from the tryline. From there, prop Larry Williams, Jr., charged through on a magnificent run to score. Army led 19-3 after 20 minutes.

Navy finally produced some sustained pressure and camped out in the Army 22. Finally prop Adam Tounkara picked up and dove over. With the conversion it was 19-10. Altonen added a penalty goal to inch Navy closer, but Army replied with a break from wing Michael Amberg. The sophomore popped a kick over the Navy defense and vice captain Nolan Green, coming off the opposite wing, chased it down to score. 

That made it 24-13 at 35 minutes and so it remained at halftime. Flyhalf Sean McNulty made it 27-13 five minutes into the second half with a penalty goal for Army. Navy put Army under immense pressure after that, but could not punch it in.

It wasn't until the final ten minutes that fans saw any more scoring. The Black Knights hammered at the Navy line and finally got it over. McNulty was good on the kick, and moments later Army was back in the Navy 22, and No. 8 Robert Barrett picked up from the base of the scrum, ran kind of sideways, but found a seam to score.

That was it—39-13. The game was much closer than the score made it apear, but certainly Army had the run of play.

The Army women also had the run of play, but while the Black Knights came away with a 39-0 shutout, it wasn't particularly easy.

After getting an early penalty goal, Army didn't score for another 20 minutes. Navy was certainly on the back foot during that time, but the Midshipmen held on doggedly. Finally, after some poor exit attempts from Navy, the Black Knights took it wide and scored in the corner. 

A turnover at their own 22 put Navy in trouble again at 28 minutes and a nifty little backline move secured the try for Army. It remained 15-0 until just before halftime when a charge up the middle set up another try on the outside—22-0 at halftime.

Another early penalty goal and two more tries came for Army in the second half. Navy made Army work for it, but it was Navy's inability to relieve pressure that hurt them.