SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Trinity Western's men's rugby sevens side earned its first-ever win in a collegiate tournament, beating San Jose State 21-0 to highlight Day 1 at the West Coast 7s Treasure Island tournament that saw the Spartans finish with a 1-2 record Saturday at Ray Sheeran Field.
Earlier in the day, the Spartans lost 24-12 against University of San Diego and 51-0 against defending tournament champion University of California.
In the Spartans win over San Jose State, it was
Khyree Poole (El Cajon, Calif.) opening the scoring for TWU before
Ethan Bernardin (Langley, B.C.) tallied back-to-back tries.
Jacob Sousa (Langley) converted all three tries.
Against San Diego, the Spartans went up 12-0 with Bernadin scoring both tries and
Garrett Sheperd (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) kicking one successful conversion. San Diego responded with 24 straight points to had the Spartans a loss in their tournament-opening game.
A 51-point loss to powerhouse California wasn't dissimilar to the Bears other pool play results, as Cal beat San Diego 45-0 and San Jose State 36-0.
The Spartans will now take on the USC Sunday on the consolation side of the bracket, with the possibility of as many as three more games as TWU can still finish as high as ninth in the tournament.
SCHEDULE
Day 1 | Saturday | October 19th
10 a.m. | TWU (12) San Diego (24)
12:20 p.m. | TWU (0) California (51)
3:20 p.m. | TWU (21) San Jose State (0)
Day 2 | Sunday | October 20th
9:40 a.m. | TWU vs. USC
TWU ROSTER
Ethan Bernardin – Langley, B.C. | R.E. Mountain Secondary
Daniel Clement – Edmonton, Alta. | Edmonton Clansmen
Ben Graci – Edmonton, Alta. | Nor'westers AA
Ben Hus – Calgary, Alta. | Ernest Manning High School
Ethan Kelt – Port Coquitlam, B.C. | United Rugby Club
Erik Niebuhr – Surrey, B.C. | Bayside Sharks
Khyree Poole – El Cajon, Calif. | OMBAC Rugby
Markus Rauch – Abbotsford, B.C. | Robert Bateman Secondary
Nate Schroeder – West Kelowna, B.C. | Mount Boucherie Secondary
Garrett Sheperd – El Dorado Hills, Calif. | Gentlemen of Aspen RFC
Jacob Sousa – Langley, B.C. | R.E. Mountain Secondary
David Wegert – Langley, B.C. | R.E. Mountain Secondary
About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 11 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes in the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL) in men's hockey and as an independent team in men's rugby. The men's and women's hockey programs will begin playing in Canada West and U SPORTS in 2020-21. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 27 Canada West team championships and two BCIHL championships.
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