Duke Misses Strothe in Team's First Loss
February 7th 2009
Duke conceded its first match of the season in its home opener against Guilford.
Playing for the first time on their home field in Durham, NC, the Blue Devils were
looking to clinch a top birth in the rugby south playoffs by sealing off an undefeated
regular season. However, after a long 90 minutes of play, the Blue Devils were not
able to pull of the win. The team built on the first two matches of the season playing
the best rugby of the season, but Guilford proved to be a tougher opponent than the
previous two matches. The Blue Devils could not have asked for a better night to play
the game, and they were supported by a large student gathering which was well received.
Duke started out on top and were leading going into half time 15-10. Coming out in the
second half the Blue Devils made some timely penalties that kept them from getting in
the try. Guilford Capitalized on these penalties in the second half, scoring two tries
on the quick restart after Duke had conceded penalties in their own zone. The starting
line up remained much the same as two weeks ago and included Tipton, Forti, Lange,
Nelson, Hellman, Wood, DeLand, and Houghton in the pack, supported by Gosnell, Hayes,
Beatus, Gibbs, Pennington, Blum, Miller. The backs showed significant growth in the
game, holding on to the ball better than in the previous matches, but were not able
to capitalize on critical overloads to score tries. The team showed its resiliance
by coping with injuries to starter Gosnell and Forti.
The Blue Devil's are excited about this weekends trip to California, and is hoping
to be able to suprise some teams in the playoffs when it begins its playoff run, most
likely at Elon on February 28th.
Game photos can be found by clicking here
Game Notes
L 25-28(HT: 15-10)
Duke:
Tries: J. Pennington, D. Houghton (2), W.Snyderwine
Conversion: L. Miller (1)
Penalties: L. Miller (1)
UNC-G:
Tries: 4
Conversion: 3
Penalties: 1