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Health & Fitness

Harvey Rugby Notches First Win

Harvey's rugby team enjoyed a big win this week when it played host to the Long Island Under 19 Rugby Club.

Harvey’s rugby team defeated the Long Island under 19 Rugby Club Monday 44-14 for the Cavaliers’ first win of the season.

The match started off well with Harvey controlling the play early on. In just the third minute, Christian Artuso led his forward pack on several charges resulting in Harvey’s first try of the match in just the third minute.  The Cavaliers would control the ball on the restart and the forwards did a great job of keeping the ball clean and marching down the pitch. Christian Harrington bowled over a few defenders in the 12th minute to up Harvey’s lead to 12, but the Cavaliers suffered a letdown for the rest of the half. Constant infringements by Harvey’s defense gave Long Island a chance to get back in the game. Repeated offside infractions by the Cavaliers eventually led to a yellow card and forced Harvey to play down a man. In the 33rd minute, Long Island took advantage and narrowed the lead at halftime to five points.

Harvey coach Phil Lazzaro said he used the intermission to tell his team to play their game and eliminate infractions, but the second half did not start off well. The Cavaliers played poor defense for the first two minutes of the second half and Long Island capitalized in the 38th minute to take a 14 to 12 lead.  When it looked like momentum was swinging Long Island’s way, Harvey responded big.

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In the 41st minute Harrington crashed into the tryzone on a penalty run to recapture the lead.  Two minutes later, the offense worked the ball out to Sharif Koonce on Harvey’s 28 meter line.  Koonce ran 30 meters, was tackled and regained possession and then sprinted through the defense for the remaining 42 meters for a score. 

In the 48th minute Harvey continued to respond, and following a nice break by Reed Feldman, the ball was recycled and eventually Charles Seider found Harrington as he completed his second consecutive hat trick.  Paul Stapleton and Artuso dotted down in the 60th and 63rd minutes to pad Harvey’s lead.  As time ran down Buddy Rice found the tryzone off a lineout to cap the scoring for the Cavaliers and secure the victory.

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Coach Lazzaro was pleased with his team’s play. “I was proud of the efforts today.  The boys responded to the referee’s whistle, changed their patterns and had some fun on offense.”

After midweek scrimmage at home against Ridgefield, the Cavaliers (1-2) travel to Randall’s Island to take on Xavier on Saturday morning.

 

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