A storied season came to an end this weekend for the 2001-2002 Saint Louis University men’s rugby club.
Taking a 9-3 record into last Saturday’s match against Scott Air Force Base at Forest Park, SLU looked to finish off one of its best seasons ever.
SLU lost a controversial match to Scott Air Force Base 7-5. The controversy arose when freshman Mike Rudy took a pass from sophomore Charlie Notheis into the try zone for an apparent score early in the first half.
But the referee called it back due to a fight that had broken out at midfield between Eric Munninghoff and a number of Scott players-the first of many more scuffles in SLU’s last match of the season.
Had the try counted, SLU would have won 10-7. Instead, SLU lost, finishing the season 9-4.
Having already captured the Missouri Union Collegiate Division II Championship on March 23 with a 25-19 victory over Washington University, and a sixth place finish at the Western Territorial Championships in Norman, Okla., (national qualifying tournament) earlier this season, a victory Saturday would have marked SLU’s most successful run since 1997-1998, when it went 12-4 and placed fourth at Westerns.
Backs Coach Hamilton Hinton, a member of the ’97-’98 team, attributes this year’s success to “an incredible amount of athleticism and an ability to come up with a lot of points in tight situations that could make or break a game.”
Heading into Westerns, SLU had outscored its opponents 229-136, a margin that widened after a convincing 29-5 victory over the University of Southern Indiana April 13 in Evansville, Ind.
Taking a No. 8 seed into Westerns April 6 through 7, SLU faced the Sam Houston State, the Texas Union Champions, in the first round.
A tight first half left SLU down 12-0, but Sam Houston broke the game wide open early in the second half, defeating SLU 29-0 en route to their berth at the National Tournament.
SLU received a forfeit from a short-handed Pittsburgh State side, and fell 8-0 to John Brown University in the fifth place match. Coach Bill Brandt called the tournament a “good learning experience for all the younger kids,” and added, “Sam Houston was the best team there, but we definitely showed that we could play right with them throughout different moments in the match.”
When asked for an outlook on next season, coach Brandt said, “We’re only graduating three starters this season, and that leaves 12 returning starters and a handful of reserves to build the program on.”
Among those graduating are senior captains Peter Kowalski and Chris Thacker. Kowalski, a four-year starter for SLU, has captained the team the past two seasons. Thacker and fellow senior Nick Miofsky have both started for the past three years.
While the presence of these three will surely be missed next season, there is no shortage of talent to fill in the gaps.
“There are a lot of guys who will step it up next year,” Miofsky said.
Among those returning are junior standouts Josh Brewster, Munninghoff, Nick Schaefer, and sophomore Quinn Guerin.
Brandt has made winning the Western Championship next year’s goal, and is confident that SLU can achieve even more.
Brant said, “We’ve beaten top ranked Division II teams like Dayton, Northern Iowa and Eastern Illinois the past couple of years. We have the making of great team and won’t stop until we get there (national tournament),” Brandt said.
