California Golden Bears Athletics
California
UC Santa Cruz
Young Bears Beat UC Santa Cruz
4/17/2011 12:00 PM | Rugby
April 17, 2011
Postseason Snapshot, Bracket | Live Scoring via Twitter
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - The Golden Bears, using a lineup including six freshmen and eight sophomores among the starters, weathered a batch of unforced errors in addition to a spirited home team on a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon as California scored 13 tries to prevail, 87-24, over UC Santa Cruz.
Freshman lock Patrick Coleman had a hat trick, freshman hooker Travis Moscone and sophomore winger Josh Tucker had a pair of tries each, sophomore flyhalf Andre Coquillard made 6-of-8 conversion attempts and sophomore center Brandon Kraft converted 5-of-5 when he moved to flyhalf following a second-half substitution.
Senior reserve prop Derek Sagehorn was the lone upperclassmen among the starters due to injuries to other frosh-sophs. Eighteen underclassmen saw action for Cal by the end of the match.
Santa Cruz scored three tries, two off of interceptions by UCSC scrumhalf Dan O'Leary and center Mario Johnson, and the other by fullback Jordan Murphy. Flyhalf Pete Bianchi converted all three and added a penalty kick.
UC Santa Cruz is coached by Robbie Bellue, who as a hooker helped the Bears win the 1993 national collegiate championship with his twin brother, Kelly, at prop before they graduated from Cal, also their father's alma mater.
The Rugby Bears relied on perseverance and determination to put together their 63-point victory.
"It's all about giving your full effort all the time, making sure you push through every minute that you're in the game," said sophomore center Brad Harrington, who demonstrated a high work rate among the backline.
Moscone, one of the high-motor forwards for the Bears on Sunday, said of the team's imperfect play, "You need to have a short memory and play the next phase, but you also need to come out of this match knowing where you have to improve. Bottom line, the harder you work, the more opportunities you get."
"The forwards did a good job getting the mauls going, and mine were really team tries," said Coleman of his three scores. "There's a lot to improve on and we'll get a chance to do that all week in practice and next weekend against the reserves at Cal Poly."
The Bears conclude their regular season Saturday, April 23, in San Luis Obispo against the Mustangs, with the First XV kickoff at 1 p.m. followed by a reserve-grade contest.
The Scoring Timeline vs. UC Santa Cruz:
03:00 Brad Harrington 5, Andre Coquillard 2
07:00 UCSC (Dan O'Leary) 5, (Pete Bianchi) 2
11:00 Daniel Collins 5, Andre Coquillard 2
16:00 Patrick Coleman 5, Andre Coquillard 2
18:00 UCSC (Pete Bianchi) 3
20:00 Josh Tucker 5, Andre Coquillard 2
21:00 Max Shaulis 5
26:00 Travis Moscone 5, Andre Coquillard 2
33:00 Patrick Coleman 5, Andre Coquillard 2
Halftime: California 47, UC Santa Cruz 10
45:00 Jose Peña 5
51:00 Josh Tucker 5, Brandon Kraft 2
59:00 UCSC (Jordan Murphy) 5, (Pete Bianchi) 2
64:00 UCSC (Mario Johnson) 5, (Pete Bianchi) 2
70:00 Patrick Coleman 5, Brandon Kraft 2
73:00 Brandon Kraft 5, 2
80:00 Travis Moscone 5, Brandon Kraft 2
82:00 Hunter Frisinger 5, Brandon Kraft 2
Final Score: California 87, UC Santa Cruz 24
The Team vs. UC Santa Cruz:
15. Collins (Dixon @ 58:00), 14. Shaulis, 13.Harrington, 12. Kraft (S. W. Welch @ 46:00), 11. Tucker (Frisinger @ 56:00), 10. Coquillard (Kraft @ 46:00), 9. Peña © (Caravelli @ 58:00), 1. Donaldson, 2.Moscone, 3. Sagehorn, 4. Coleman, 5. Bowman, 6. Fach (Turner @ 46:00), 7. Bruzzone (Beckerman @ 46:00), 8. Hendrickson
