For Coach Lloyd Greenfield, history senior, and the rest of the Loyola rugby team, hopes are more experience will lead to more victories for the young team.

In their first game of the year, Tulane University defeated Loyola by a score of 23-3 Oct. 11 at the Lavin-Bernick Center on Tulane’s campus.

In the first half, Tulane took a 7-0 lead on an early try and extra point (in rugby a successful extra score is worth two points). After some rucking and passing, the ‘Pack scored on a field goal by Kevin Welsh, political science junior, to make it 5-3.

After Loyola’s score, each team had possession of the ball twice but could not score. On Loyola’s third possession after their field goal, they drove all the way to within one yard of the goal line before giving up the ball on a fumble in the ruck.

After a Tulane score which made it 14-3, both teams resumed the physical play that is characteristic of the sport. Each possession that the teams got ended quickly by the ball either going out of bounds or each team losing the ball in the ruck. The first half ended at 14-3.

The second half started with Tulane in possession of the ball and driving down. But some solid tackling and rucking forced Tulane to settle for a field goal, making it 17-3. Loyola would threaten to score twice, with Shelly Jenkins, graphic design senior, and David Carr, psychology sophomore, nearly reaching the goal line.

Tulane took their next two possessions down the field, scoring their final two field goals to win, 23-3.

Tulane’s coach, Haj Longford said, “I was pleased by the way we played. Our forwards and backs were impressive. We did a good job in the rucks against Loyola’s size.”

When asked how the first years played, general business sophomore Alex Weed said, “They were very aggressive. They made mistakes that if they knew the game they wouldn’t have done. I even made mistakes myself because I was playing positions that I had never played before, so it was a learning experience for all of us until we learn where everyone is solidly playing at.”

Weed also said he had a positive outlook on the game. “A lot of inexperience … actually we did pretty well. We’re gonna get better, I don’t know about this semester. We’re going to win some games.”

Greenfield was happy with how his team hung with Tulane.

“We came out rough. We came out tough from the beginning until the end. You know a lot of inexperienced guys but we hung with them. It was a close game so it’s optimistic for the rest of the year. This is the first match. If we can do that in the first match we’ll be great by the end of the year.”

Michael Dewey can be reached at [email protected].