San Diego State University
The Aztecs pushed their league record to 6-0 with a strong performance against UCLA, winning at home 43-5.  

The Aztecs  rebounded well from their two tough losses in Las Vegas the previous week with improved performances from the lessons learned.  The victory secured the number one seed out of Southern California for the Aztecs and will now see them travel to Santa Barbara, Ca. for the USA Rugby Collegiate Sweet 16 where the Aztecs will take on a familiar opponent, Bowling Green, who the Aztecs faced in last years playoffs.  The Sweet 16 will take place on the weekend of April 16-18, and more details will follow shortly.

The Aztecs started the UCLA match strong and Alex Ross finished a flowing movement in the opening minutes to give the Aztecs an early lead.  However, only moment later, a game UCLA side pulled off a well executed set piece move to level the game after 10 minutes at 5-5.  The rest of the half belonged to the Aztecs and 3 unanswered tries all by flanker Dave Buboltz, two of which center Duncan Kelm converted brought the half time score to 24-5.  The Aztecs continued to pressure for the opening 20 minutes of the second half, scoring 3 tries, another by Alex Ross, and two by Brendan Purcell, two of which Kelm converted.  The final 20 minutes saw a lull in the game in which neither team was able to cross the line and final score was 43-5 Aztecs.  Head coach Matt Sherman was generally pleased with the performance, ‘We played well overall and applied many of the fixes to a lot of the lessons we learned from the previous weekends games.  Still, we performed at a high level for about 60 minutes, and we need to focus on putting together an 80 minute performance moving forward.’

In the B Side match, strong performances be Centers Conner Reed and Dale Turori, as well as Props Morgan Gagel and Zach Shapiro, paved the way for a 19-5 Aztecs Victory.

On the road, the Division 3 Aztecs fell to a strong Cal State Fullerton side 46-5.

The Aztecs have a bye for the Division 1 side this weekend, but Division 3 will travel to play Asuza Pacific.

Next Tuesday 3/2 at 6pm the Aztecs will take on a touring St. Bonaventure University from New York touring side at PG 610.


SDSU 43, UCLA 5

Min 6: Ross Try
Min 9: UCLA Try
Min 18: Buboltz Try, D Kelm Conversion
Min 21: Buboltz Try
Min 40: Buboltz Try, D. Kelm Conversion

Half: SDSU 24, UCLA 5

Min 44: Ross Try, Kelm Conversion
Min 55: B Purcell Try, Kelm Conversion
Min 58: B Purcell Try

Final: SDSU 43, UCLA 5

 1 Brenden Purcell ; 2 James Deleo; 3 Darrell Honaker 4 Alex Main; 5 Anton  Mironov; 6 Dave Buboltz; 7 Mike Shea; 8 Tanner Kouba; 9 Jamie  Purcell (Captain); 10  Ryan O’Connor; 11 Chris Bredeson; 12 Jamie Kelm; 13 Duncan Kelm; 14 Mike Hicks; 15 Alex Ross; 16 Morgan Gagel;17 Zach Shapiro; 18 Scott Brown; 19 Derrick Broussard; 20 Tyler Khaushagen; 21 Austin Freeman; 22 Dale Turori



B Side: SDSU 19, UCLA 5

Min 15: Turori Try

Half: SDSU 5, UCLA 0

Min 42 Turori Try and Conversion
Min 56: Shapiro Try, Turori Conversion
Min 64: UCLA Try

Final: SDSU 19, UCLA 5

  
 1 Zach Shapiro 2 Devin Keller; 3 Morgan Gagel; 4 Kyle Quirk; 5 Scott Brown; 6 Andrew Hinkle; 7 Tyler Khaushagen; 8 Derrick Broussard; 9 Austin Freeman; 10 Andrew Castle; 11 Franky Vasquez; 12 Conner Reed; 13 Dale Turori; 14 Renzo Garcia; 15 Alex Colla; 16 Adrian Torres; 17 Kyle Berchin 18 A. N. Other; 19 A.N. Other 20 Joe Sylvestry ; 21 A.N. Other; 22 Marco Segura