PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Each week during the college rugby season, Zach Lanning and Colby Marshall from The Drink-Up Podcast will highlight the players of the week.
Men
- Brendan O'Neill (Freshman, Nazareth College)
- (W, 37-29 vs. Binghamton)
We mentioned him on the pod last week and the young flyhalf made it seem like we know what we're talking about, accounting for 22 of his team's 37 points in their victory over Binghamton. O'Neill got Nazareth on the board early, slotting two penalty kicks in the first several minutes. Then, after Binghamton pulled ahead by a score, the freshman showed incredible poise scoring a try of his own, assisting on another, and kicking conversions like the goalposts were 100 feet wide to put Nazareth back on top for good.
- O'Neill is a big reason the Golden Flyers are undefeated so far this season, but it doesn't hurt to have a cadre of talented upperclassmen surrounding him, like Khalil Lynch and Kyle Decker to name a few.
Women
- Codi Butt (Junior, Army)
- (W, 39-0 vs. Quinnipiac)
Coming off a physical battle in their first loss of the season to Dartmouth the previous week, the Black Knights seemed like they might fall to an underdog Quinnipiac side that may have smelled a hint of weakness. But a second consecutive loss was not in Codi Butt's plans for the evening. After a back and forth first half, Butt put the first points of the match on the board with a penalty kick and swung the momentum in favor of Army. She followed that up with two scores of her own and three conversions while leading a defense that stymied Quinnipiac at every turn.
- The flanker has been huge for Army so far, scoring in three of their four matches, with two multi-score games, and kicking with incredible precision. The Black Knights have a softer stretch of games next month, leading up to a pivotal clash with Harvard on October 30th.
|
