Mid-Atlantic Rugby Conference

With the men’s rugby team retuning to Hawk Hill on August 19th for preseason camp, the Hawks are getting excited for the fall 2015 Keystone Rugby Conference 15’s Season. Being a runner up in the Keystone 15’s Championship match in 2014, the Hawks look to finally get over the hump in 2015. This will be no easy task as the team has graduated a number of talented and seasoned vets.

The Hawks will start their campaign with a preseason match at the University of Delaware on September 12. The following weeks match on September 19th will not only be the start of Conference play but will also be a featured match of Hawk Fest, the University parent and alumni weekend. The Hawks will take on University rival Villanova at 7PM on that Saturday night of Hawk Fest.  From there, the Hawks head to Temple on October 4th, followed by a home game vs Rutgers on October 11.  The Hawks finish the regular season with a match at West Chester University on October 24th.

Heading into November, all Keystone teams will play a quarterfinal match on November 7th with the top seeded team hosting the match. The following weekend, Shippendburg will host a two day Conference Finals with the semifinals on Saturday November 14th and the finals on Sunday November 15th.  On November 21st the Keystone Conference Champion will head to the ACRC in Charlotte NC for a Bowl Game (opponent TBA).  The remaining Keystone teams will head to Rutgers on the 21st for a cross conferenc challenge match against the Empire Rugby Conference.

There will be plenty of Hawks Rugby action this season. There are several players to keep an eye on… senior Tyler Kelley is back form injury and will certainly lead the defensive charge. Also seniors Collin McHale and Mike McGee will provide veteran leadership in the forwards.  Making the move from under to upper classmen, Jimmy Wolfer and Greg McTiernan will continue to be a dynamic duo for the backs and Matt Zebrowski is primed to have an all star season. Sophmores Thomas Cuddihy, Chris Curcio, and Aram Keshegian are expected to continue to have significant impacts as underclassemen. However it won’t be a few players that determines the teams success but the entire team which makes this preseason camp even more important to get a good jump on the season.

Let’s go Hawks!

THWND