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SMC gets home field advantage for playoffs

Posted in: College
By Brian Lowe
Mar 27, 2008 - 8:23:46 PM
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Col_UCDavisvSMC_Mickiewicz_.jpg
(Tim Mickiewicz photo)
#5 St Mary’s has stitched up second place in the Northern California conference, as well as home field advantage for the Pacific Coast playoffs, with a 40-24 win against #10 UC Davis Thursday evening in Moraga, CA.

In what was a very physical contest, as it usually is when these two meet, SMC led 35-14 at halftime.

UCD fought back in the second forty and actually outscored their hosts by 10 points to five, but it wasn’t anywhere near enough to get close to pegging back the difference.

The Aggies went into the game not having been able practice due to the University of California Davis’ policy on no training during finals week, whereas the Gaels were coming off a grueling, though successful, three-match tour to South America.

St Mary’s starting flyhalf Matt Leatherby scored an early try and had to leave the field later with a head knock, but his replacement Jake Holguin, who’s in his first year of rugby, picked up the cudgel and also got on the score sheet. Other SMC try-scorers included #8 Brandon Vedder (2), who gave his team high quality go-forward momentum, and captain Kevin Swiryn.

“Davis is great. They’re as hard a working team as I’ve seen,” St Mary’s head coach Tim O’Brien told ARN. “It was definitely a high tempo game.”

For UC Davis, Jake Meyers (2) and Tyler Harrison (2) did all the try-scoring, while Julien Howsepian added two conversions.

“I was proud of the way the boys came back into it,” UC Davis head coach Andy Malpass told ARN. “I was very impressed with the St Mary’s backline, which is the best I’ve seen this year, including Cal.”

St Mary’s still has one more makeup game to play against Nevada. That one is scheduled for Saturday in Reno, although it will have no bearing on the standings.

Despite the loss, UCD finished third in the NorCal standings and will return to Moraga next week for the Pacific Coast playoff bracket in which they’re slated to face one of the Pacific Northwest seeds. SMC is due to play Northern Cal #5 seed Stanford in the opening round of the playoffs, which kick off on Friday.

Thursday’s result saw St Mary’s improve to 15-2 overall, while UC Davis dropped to 9-4-1 overall.

Northern California standings (unofficial):
California 60pts
St Mary’s 43pts
UC Davis 36pts
Chico State 26pts
Stanford 24pts
Sacramento State 13pts
Nevada 9pts