NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's and women's rugby teams hosted the inaugural Chris Munn 7s Tournament on Sunday at Sabine Field at Haynes Family Stadium.
The Norwich women won their own tournament with three dominating performances in the "A" division to improve to 34-0 all-time in 7s matches. The Cadets downed Boston University 40-5 in the championship match behind two tries from sophomore Riley Blankenship (Lyndonville, Vt.).
Norwich jumped out to a 21-0 lead by halftime with tries coming from a trio of sophomores in Valerie McGuire (Felts Mills, N.Y.), Emily Colesworthy (North Yarmouth, Maine) and Hannah Bell (Newberg, Ore.). Bell also went 3-for-3 on conversions in the first half as well.
The Cadets scored three times again in the second half with Joya Clark (Scotia, N.Y.) and Blankenship (2) scoring tries. Boston University briefly cut into the NU lead to make it 28-7 after Clark scored to open the half.
Norwich beat Boston University 31-0 earlier in the day in pool play and also notched a 43-0 win over UMass. Senior Rose Bernheim (Mountain Home AFB, Idaho) scored three tries in the UMass win, while Colesworthy added two as well.
The Norwich "B" side fell 15-0 to Vassar in the "B" division championship game. The Norwich B side played six matches on the day, filling in for two matches in the "A" bracket after Northeastern pulled out of the tournament late.
Just as Norwich did on the women's side, the Dartmouth Big Green was equally as dominant in the "A" bracket on the men's side. Dartmouth defeated Vassar 47-7 in the championship match.
The Norwich men's "A" side finished fourth, falling to UVM 17-10 in the third-place match. Norwich built up a 10-0 lead, but couldn't hold it as UVM rallied from a 10-5 halftime deficit with two tries in the second half.
Norwich beat UVM 24-0 in pool play for its lone win of the day. The Cadets fell 17-5 to Vassar and 49-0 to Dartmouth.
The Norwich B men played UVM in the Cup Final. UVM was up 12-5 at half. The Catamounts added two more tries to take the final 22-5. In the earlier prelim matches, Norwich B lost their opener to UVM 17-0 then won back-to-back matches to Champlain College 24-14 and 36-5 to Vassar B. Jack England was a standout for the Norwich B side, drop kicking conversions and scoring tries.
The tournament is named after former Norwich University men's rugby team captain Chris Munn. Chris played rugby and lacrosse throughout his college days, graduating and commissioning into the Army in May, 1981. Chris continued to play competitive rugby after entering military service. After an illustrious military career, Chris retired and continued to serve his nation working for the Federal Government at Fort Drum, New York.
In 2013, Chris was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) a progressive neuro-degenerative disease for which there is no cure. He is waging a determined fight against the disease, his positive attitude and spirit are an inspiration to his teammates and all who know him. Please come and join us as we play rugby to raise awareness and understanding of this incurable disease.
