Upsets Highlight Men’s Small College Early Rounds

On day one, Men’s Small College saw both a one and and two seed go down in the early rounds. The top seed in the west side of the bracket, John Carroll, survived a scare with a 17-14 win over UW Eau Claire, before losing in the quarterfinals to fifth seed St. Thomas in a close 12-10 game. Dominic Kraus and Izaiah Murphy, the top try scorers for the Tommies, both scored in the win, with Aidan O’Conner making the game-winning conversion. 

In the East side of the bracket, sixth-seeded Slippery Rock beat Richmond, 12-7, in the first round, before cruising past second seed Providence, 24-7. Robbie Daily scored two tries in the game, bringing his Friday total tries to three.

Top-seeded Christendom had no problems knocking off Western Oregon in their opening game, 31-7, but struggled in their quarterfinal win over Duke, 24-17. Charlie Ackla scored 4 tries in the win over the Wolves and is currently tied with Duke’s Aidan Gallagher for tries in the men’s Small School division with 5. The last team to lock up a semifinal spot was Endicott, who started the day as the two seed in the west. The Gulls started the day beating Franciscan 24-12, then beat VMI in a high-scoring affair in the quarterfinals.

Franciscan was able to avenge their loss, beating Wesleyan 34-7 with five different players scoring, then Denver in a close game, 24-7, to advance to the Bowl final. They will be facing Loyola (MD), who snuck past Richmond and Western Oregon to get to the Cup Final. In the Plate Semifinals, VMI pulled out a close win over John Caroll, 24-19, and Duke was able to get past Providence 21-15.  

For tomorrow’s matchups, Christendom will take on Slippery Rock at 11:10 a.m., followed by St. Thomas and Endicott at 11:30. Both games will be in the main stadium. For the other finals, VMI and Duke will play for the Plate Final at 10:40 a.m. on field 9, and the 7^th place matchup between John Carroll will also be at field 9 at 7^th place. For the Bowl Final, Franciscan will be taking on Loyola Maryland in the Bowl final at 10 a.m. on field 9.

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