With only one loss against Middlebury, the Norwich men’s rugby team made playoffs.
The team took the final regular season game against Coast Guard, 26-10, gaining a second seed placement for playoffs.
“It should be a good game. I’ve been hearing stories that they are a team just like us, they play physical, run the ball and they are hard hitters so it could be one of the biggest games we’ve had all year,” Captain Joey-Mac Dizon, a 23-year-old junior history major from Belleville, N.J., said before the game.
The last game will “determine the rest of our season and what type of team we are,” said Antonio Marigliano, a 21-year-old sophomore business and accounting major from Silver Spring, Md.
Though there have been many injuries this year, the team hasn’t slowed down, considering its 5-1 record in its conference.
Not having many upperclassman on the team does not appear to have hurt the team.
“I think having a young team is an advantage because it will prepare us for the future and I see us in a couple years down the road a re-occurring team that shows up at nationals,” said Adam Medeiros, a 21-year-old junior athletic training major from Fair Haven, Mass.
The younger players have “played a very big role, they’ve given us depth in reserves and just their all around play during practice has forced them to improve their play,” Medeiros said.
The one loss the team had this year to Middlebury “showed us what quick ball movement does and shows how good team chemistry and just having an all around knowledge of the game can help,” Medeiros said.
“I think we came together and I think we realized what we needed to do to win,” Marigliano said.
With its second place in its conference, the team captured the winning home field advantage.
The rugby playoffs will begin early in November.