Loyola rugby begins inaugural season in dominant fashion

BATON ROUGE – It's been 13 months since Loyola University New Orleans announced it was starting an athletics-sponsored rugby program, and on Friday the Wolf Pack hit the rugby pitch to begin the new era of the sport. After a jittery start, Loyola dominated LSU en route to a 51-7 win in the program's first-ever victory. 
 

After a battle of field position for much of the opening 20 minutes, the Tigers struck first with a 7-0 lead. The Pack finally got on the board 12 minutes later when they won possession near the try line, as Ethan Ruiz dove and slammed the ball down for the team's first five points. Frank Finicle barreled through a line of LSU would-be tacklers for the next try, and Branson Perez made the conversion to bring the score to 12-7 by halftime.
 

The second half was dominated by Loyola, scoring 39 more points. Gavin Miranda scored the first try, 17-7, then Giovanni Matranga added another try five minutes later, 22-7. Perez kicked for goal shortly after that and made it, 25-7, and Orin Hart scored a try at the 70th minute to really blow the game open, 32-7. 
 

The highlight of the day came one minute later, when Benjamin Burkett took it nearly the length of the field to touch down in LSU's in-goal area, 37-7. The Wolf Pack scored two more tries, including one just before the clock hit zero, to bring the game to its final. Matthew Cashio and Jayden Salazar scored those tries. 
 

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