The line up:
1. Grafton M., 2. Jarvis C., 3. Joey W., 4. Aly ES., 5. Calvin L., 6. Steven L. 7. Andrew P., 8. Caleb Y., 9. Lewis H., 10. Andrew W., 11. Octavio MK., 12. Edmund M., 13. Ola S., 14. Jackson W., 15. Eric B.
Reserves:16. Daniel E., 17. Talha A., 18. Ernesto T., 19. Andrew M., 20. Ian W., 21. Tristen E., 22. Alex W., 23. Yahve G.
The game began with Prairie View (PV) marching down the field, playing some heads up rugby. They took advantage of the little mistakes that UTD made, and marched down the pitch. It was a penalty against UTD that PV decided to take a penalty kick for the first 3 points of the game. PV then took the ball and began marching again down the pitch, but it was UT Dallas that would find a way to poach the ball away from PV inside their territory and it was Calvin Lones that would put UT Dallas on the board. The first half was a good start to this young season, half time score UT Dallas 35, Prairie View A&M 3.
The second half major changes had been made to get players into the game. Notably Daniel, Ernesto, Andrew and Tristen all came in at the beginning of the 2nd half. It proved to be a decent move on my part, but the players that came in finally showed dividends to being put into the game. Andrew M. found a way to score his first Try, and while we may not have scored as many times as we did in the first half. The main part of this equation, we did not allow any more points scored by Prairie View. The final score UT Dallas 52 Prairie View A&M 3
the scoring in the first half Calvin (2 Trys), Octavio (3 Trys), Andrew W. (1 Try), Andrew M. (1 Try), Lewis (1 Try, 3 Conversions, 2 Penalty Kicks)
Next Saturday, the UT Dallas Women kick off their season with a late afternoon match against Angelo State University Women's Rugby Club. The Women's match kicks off at 4:30pm.
This will be the women's first game of the young season, thanks to Hurricane Harvey, which reeked havoc and ruined the possibility of the women playing in the Dust Your Boots Off Tournament, then the TCU Women folded the next week, which ruined another potential opportunity to have a run on a pitch. But that's water under the bridge, our women have been practicing and I think they are ready to take the field. Lead by their President Kayla, I think the women will have a pretty good season.
Next weekend the UT Dallas Men take on Letourneau University in their 2nd home league match of the season, this is a match up that could go either way (kick off is scheduled for 6:15pm). From the beginning of this rivalry, UT Dallas controlled Letourneau in every game played. Then Letourneau took advantage of multiple situations and began to pick apart the UTD defense and have taken the lead in the series. Letourneau will be a very good side and they are coached to play the game hard and fast. Now don't get me wrong, they aren't the only well coached club, but next week the game will go to the club that wants it more, has more heart and makes the fewest mistakes.