Rugby loses 24-19 to St. Louis University

The Bulls have one more opportunity to improve on what has been a less than stellar fall season.

The Bulls fell victim last week to St. Louis University 24-19 because of what head coach Bill Sexton called "very poor officiating."

The Bulls started the game off fast. They scored first and went into halftime with a 12-7 lead. However, after a back-and-forth battle, SLU's three second-half tries proved to be too much for the Bulls to handle as SLU took the match from the Bulls.

"We played on a very poor field and had a referee that didn't call anything," Sexton said. "We put ourselves in position to win and then got shut down. We just couldn't get the fire lit."

The Bulls' season hasn't gone exactly according to plan as they carry a 1-3 record into their last game.

"There are still a lot of positives that have come from this fall season," Sexton said.

The play of the younger players has been one of Sexton's most emphasized points throughout the fall

 "We went into last week with four starters missing," Sexton said. "We had seven freshmen on the field for most of the game. We had freshmen playing out of position and, considering the number of freshmen out there, we played really well. We continue to get really good games out of them, and, for that, I am very pleased."

Sexton said experience definitely played a big role in last week's game against SLU.

"We are a young team, and consequently, we lost our heads a little bit toward the end," Sexton said.

The Bulls close out the season against the University of Nebraska, a team that is considered one of the best in the conference. Earlier in the season, Nebraska tied Kansas State, which beat the Bulls 29-12.

"Nebraska is very big, very fast, and very aggressive," Sexton said. "We will need to get up to speed in our scrum and tackling this week in practice."

Freshman Joe Krispin said the team remains optimistic and plans to focus on the little things to compete with Nebraska.

"Our defense let us down late in the game last week," Krispin said. "I'm excited about this week. Nebraska is our last game of the season, and we are going to make it a game. It's all about cracking down on the little things this week. If we can do that, we will be successful."

Junior captain Aaron Loida has seen his fair share of tough games during his career, and despite the injuries sustained by the team, he thinks that his team has a good shot against Nebraska.

"It's easy to focus on the bad things," Loida said. "But our scrum and lineouts have gotten a lot better, and everything we have been working on in practice is showing big-time in the matches. It's going to be a fun game, and we have a really good chance to win."

The Bulls are banking on the home-field advantage to be a major factor. With the final game of the fall season at hand, the team is set to end on a good note to make a run in the spring.

"Nebraska is a good opportunity for us to get back on track," Loida said. "We have faltered along the way but this is the final game, at home, in front of our fans. We will be ready."