By Cooper Sutton

Sports Editor

On a windy pitch behind the University soccer stadium, the Bison rugby team beat Lafayette this Saturday 13-12 to win its first-round playoff game.

Coming off of a loss to Gettysburg the week before—the team’s only loss of the season—the Bison were determined to play hard.

“It was definitely the best game of rugby our team has played all season,” forward Harry Bradford ’13 said.

Early in the match, the Orange and Blue seemed to dominate possession, but they could not break through Lafayette’s defense.

“Our forwards played exceptionally well, I think; we dominated scrums throughout the entire game and we stole a bunch of opposing line-outs, which really helped us keep control of the ball during the game,” Bradford said.

The Bison struck first as back Jon Shaheed ’11 converted a field goal to give his team the 3-0 lead. Lafayette then scored a try to take a 7-3 lead into halftime.

In the second half, the Bison tacked on another field goal to make the score 7-6. Lafayette added another try, but Bison forward Peter Haxton ’13 forced a missed two-point conversion to keep the score at 12-6. As the Lafayette kicker moved forward to kick, Haxton ran at him, causing him to miss.

Bradford then added a try for the Bison, giving the team the 13-12 lead that it carried to the end of the match.

Both teams racked up a large amount of penalties, and the Bison earned two yellow cards. Three Bison were injured: Trevor Kauffmann ’14 and Ryan Ward ’11 with concussions, and Ross McMonigle ’13 with a cut to the head.

The Bison hope to continue success next weekend on the road against The College of New Jersey.