The ASU men’s rugby team captured its first victory of the season last weekend after defeating the visiting Wyoming Cowboys in a rare Saturday night showdown.
Three scores from ASU junior Nate Chapman and mindless penalties from Wyoming in the first half led to the Sun Devils’ (1-1) 44–19 victory over the Cowboys (0-1).
Wyoming had a very busy first 20 minutes and scored a try to take an early lead, but it had two men sent off due to two red cards for dirty play. The Sun Devils capitalized on the advantage almost immediately.
Chapman scored his first try following the second red card, which left the game tied at 7–7. Just a few minutes later, after ASU stole a Wyoming line out, Chapman received the ball again and touched down past the try line to help put the Sun Devils up 12–7. The scoring wasn’t done for Chapman, either. He scored the third try of the game with just under nine minutes left in the first half to give ASU a 19–7 lead.
“(I) couldn’t have made it happen without my players,” Chapman said. “It was an awesome team effort.”
Sloppy ASU defense gave way to a Wyoming score, and the Cowboys added a try of their own with no time left in the first half to cut the Sun Devil lead to 19–14.
No more than two minutes into the second half, senior Erick Moon scored a try for the Sun Devils that brought the team’s lead to 24–14. Senior Zach Utley added another try for ASU several minutes later to help increase the team’s score to 31–14.
ASU elected to kick for points twice in a span of three minutes, and senior Adam Sandstrom converted both attempts to add to the already comfortable lead.
Wyoming responded with its final try of the night with just under 18 minutes left in the match to cut the Sun Devils’ lead to 37–14.
Utley scored the final try of the game with just over 14 minutes left, and the Sun Devils grabbed their first conference victory of the season.
“I’m glad we won the game,” ASU coach Gary Lane said. “I don’t think we played our best rugby. I think we could’ve done a lot more with the ball, but we’re just very happy to finally have a league win.”
The win helps the Sun Devils avoid a 0-2 start, which would jeopardize their chances of reaching the postseason. The team will now look forward to next week when they face Colorado on the road.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do because if we play like that against Colorado, we’re not going to win that game,” Utley said. “We’re thankful for the win, but at the same time, we have a lot of work to do.”
Reach the reporter at talopez3@asu.edu
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