NEW HAVEN, Conn. Sunday April 27^th proved to be a great day for both the Men's and Women's Colonial Coast Rugby Conference (CCRC) Select Side Ruggers as the Women’s CCRC defeated NEWCRC 14-7 and the Men’s CCRC defeated NEWCRC 34-7.

The women, coached by Tommy Ricard (PSU) and assisted by Derek Tommy (WIT), kicked off at 11:45am and took on a tough and well led NEWCRC Women's Select Side in a very well played, tight battle to the finish. The CCRC Women emerged victors 14-7. Both tries were scored by freshman #8 Sadia Crosby (RWU). Crosby, along with fellow RWU teammate Evynne Gartner was named Players of the Game for the CCRC Side. Junior Sierra Kenkel (Kalispell, Mont.) was the lone Gull selected to represent the CCRC women’s select side and she made her presence felt subbing in on the wing early on in the first half. Her strong running and a tireless tackles shored up the outside. As the first ever Gull to make the CCRC Women’s Select side team, Kenkel said, “playing with and against girls from two great conferences lead me to feel more confident toward being an ambassador of the game and help build Endicott’s program.”

The men’s CCRC coached by Rob Guiry (WNE) and Justin McIntyre (Endicott) followed with a 4:30pm kickoff against the Men's NEWCRC Select Side. The CCRC were led by Captains Brian Goodridge (Salve Regina) and Craig Spyropoulos (WNE). Three Gulls, junior Austin Spencer, (North Yarmouth, Maine), sophomore Ryan Stanek (Cheshire, Conn.), and sophomore Brian Sussingham (Yonkers, N.Y.) started and contributed major minutes for the CCRC with strong running and smart play making. Spencer stated that one of the highlights of the day was how “we were able to come together and play with guys who were former opponents; it’s not every day that you get that kind of opportunity.” The team got off to a hot start, scoring three tries early to go up 19-0. NEWCRC would respond quickly and put up a quick try to make it 19 to 7 at half. The depth, experience and energy of the CCRC were on display in the second half, as the men put up another three tries to finish the match 34-7. Davonta Valentine (Salve Regina) was a man on fire scoring three tries from the wing, while Spyropoulos put in two himself. Sussingham said, “The CCRC dominated with both its size and speed for the entire 80 minutes and I’m looking forward to bringing back the different techniques I picked up from the guys to share with my Endicott teammates.”

Overall, it was a great display of elite rugby and sportsmanship by all four participating teams. The CCRC set out to once again prove it is an elite conference with special players and got the job done.  Stanek echoed the general consensus saying, “It was an honor being selected to represent our conference, the guys all got along great, we had one mission and we proved again why the CCRC is such a dominant conference.”