Last week, the Buffalo State men’s club rugby not only lost the game, but captain Christian Feickert. Saturday, they had someone to play for and were determined not to lose on homecoming weekend.

A 29-24 victory over Ithaca during a rainy, windy affair pushed their record above .500 to 3-2.

“Everyone wanted to win this game for Christian even more than we wanted to win for ourselves,” co-captain August Edwards said. “Heart was definitely key, we just had to play with real emotions and keep our composure.”

With the captain sidelined due to injury, other players had to step up.

“Sophomore Marco Sola made an amazing heads up play that set me up to score and help us get on track to come back from our deficit,” Edwards said.

August Edwards was one of four players to score. Anthony Harris, Tim Kaiser and kicker Trevor Wild also scored. Despite strong gusts of wind, Wild also converted three of four two-point conversion kicks. He added a three-point penalty kick as well to finish off the scoring at 29.

“We need to play a strong 80 minutes and improve defensively,” Wild said.

After giving up 48 points last week, the defense held up this week, allowing only 24 points.

“Anthony Adams and Demitri Mabry brought an aggression to the game that was really needed,” Edwards said.

It’s not yet known if Feickert, who suffered a concussion two weeks ago, will play in the upcoming contest. If he doesn’t, the team will look to take care of business without Feickert for the second straight game.

Next up for the rugby team is Fredonia at home on Saturday. They will look to continue their winning ways and improve to 4-2.

“We have heart, the team will leave everything on the field, and that is how we came out with a win,” Justin Brzyski said.

email: [email protected]