CHARLESTON, S.C. - On a warm and sunny day on the coast of South Carolina, the Lander Men's Rugby Team defeated The Citadel Bulldogs by a score 37-14. The win moved the Bearcats to 2-2 on the season and a 1-1 record in conference play.

Lander struck twice early as in the 3rd minute on a line break,  Eric Burkett set up a try finish by Carey Cortes and the conversion from Tomas Mussi to make it 7-0. A few minutes later, Blaine Tomas would drive through the Bulldogs' defenders to touch down a try. Another Mussi conversion would make it 14-0.

The Bulldogs would not go away quietly, though, as The Citadel's defense stepped up and forced a penalty on Lander, resulting in a well-placed kick for touch. The Bulldogs capitalized in the good field position and scored their first try on the day, bringing the score to 14-7, Bearcats. 

However, Lander responded right back with a line break and finish from Ethan Richardson for a try. The Mussi conversion brought back the two score advantage for the Blue and Gold at 21-7.

The Bearcats would extend their lead as time wained in the half as a late penalty from the host allowed Mussi a converted penalty kick into the wind at 35 meters, to give Lander a 23-7 lead at the break.

The second half would get off to a similar start as the first as Tomas Mussi would get long line break with well-placed pass to Rolland Muzeya who dove in for the 4th Bearcat try on the day. Mussi kicked the conversion to make it 31-7. 

The game was chippy throughout and the Bearcats would convert on two more PKs by Mussi to make it 37-7.

A late Citadel try would close the gap to 37-14 but the game was all but decided as the Bearcats would close out their first conference win of the fall.

Head Coach Buck Billings had this to say after the match, "I'm proud of our men, they've worked hard and they earned this victory. Hats off to The Citadel, We know they have a great program and will always bring their best effort and play us hard for 80 minutes, and today was no different. I'm glad we were put together our most complete match on the season with solid defense and dynamic attack and the things we learned in our match we had with Virginia Tech gave us some experience that helped us get this win."

"Today we had a lot of guys step up and play some of their better games, Max Ponce played a heck of game with spot on passing and great defense; Rolland Muzeya ran incredible support lines, defended the edge, and was awesome covering kicks; Trey Runck had another match with a very high work rate and near perfect tackle percentage; Tomas Mussi had his best match of the season with a dialed in boot and guided the attack well on the day; and lastly Eric Burkett played a complete game earning the Bearcat of the Match honor."

The Bearcats have a rest week and will face Belmont Abbey for their next match in Charlotte, NC on Friday Oct 7. Kick off for that game is set for 6:00 PM.

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