The Bowdoin Men's Rugby Team fell to visiting Bates, 29-13, in a physical match on Saturday.
With the loss, Bowdoin (1-2) slipped under .500 on the season. However, the team is not giving up on the season just yet.
Said captain Dan Jaffe '07, "While the score of this last game didn't reflect it, anyone who has seen us play over the past three weeks can tell that there have been some dramatic improvements in our overall play."
Jaffe cited improvements in the team's field-awareness and play inside the 22-meter lines.
Bowdoin took a 13-12 lead with them into halftime, but were outscored 17-0 in the second half.
"We outplayed Bates for 30 minutes," Coach Rick Scala said, "but rugby is an 80-minute game."
"No discredit to Bates, as they were a hard-fighting team with some solid forwards and well-coached backs," said Jaffe, "but had we kept our heads in the game as we did for the first 40, we would have won."
Derek Castro '09 and Ryan Devenyi '08 both scored tries, and Sam Kamin '08 kicked one penalty, for the Bowdoin scores.
Scala faulted Bowdoin's shoddy tackling and mental mistakes as reasons for the loss.
"There were some bright spots, however," said Scala, "Ryan Devenyi scored a beautiful try, just the way we drew it up in practice. And of course, our young sophomores are gaining valuable experience."
This weekend, the division-leading University of Maine-Orono squad will travel to Brunswick for a match with the "Black Pack." So far this season, Orono (3-0) has outscored their opponents 53-11.
"If we are aggressive and keep our heads in the game, we have a phenomenal opportunity this Saturday to show a much larger Orono team, and the rest of the teams in the state, that we are still a force to be reckoned with," said Jaffe.