Ann Arbor, MI –
The Wolverines took on the Gophers in their first Big Ten Match of the Season. After falling to the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, the men in blue were looking to get back on their feet and secure their first win of the season. At 1pm on Saturday, September 17th, the Wolverines got their chance to put all of their hard work together in the pursuit of a Big Ten championship.
It was a rainy day in Ann Arbor and the slippery ball led to a few knock-ons in the early minutes of the game. Michigan was able to turn a Minnesota turnover into the first try of the game. Despite the wet conditions, the men were able to get the ball out wide and David Caputo (Junior) scored the first try of the game. Michigan played a very aggressive style of defense from the beginning and throughout the whole game. Although this aggressiveness often became detrimental to the Wolverines (multiple breakdown penalties with too many coming in the red zone) Captain Jeremy “Dozer” Reid (Senior) was able to force a penalty on offense that lead to a try by Andre Cargill (Senior)
Minnesota would later respond with a nice chip kick over the defense that was converted into a try by their fly-half, but just minutes later Andre Cargill was able to turn a beautiful counter attack into another try. Andre would finish with two tries for the day. After a few more tries, the score was 34-17 at the half.
Minnesota got off to a good start by crossing the try line first in the second half to narrow the Michigan lead to 20 points, but the Michigan attack was too potent for the Minnesota defense. Senior Tohy Rakotovololona showed off some slick moves and great composure during the conversion to put Michigan up 41-14. The second half proved to be the forwards game as scrum half Albert Foo (Senior) did a superb job directing the offense and the forward pack. Andre Cargill would make a few more conversions, while Captain Junior Burns was able to cross into the try zone as well. The final score was 62-19.
Soiled Meat and Sand.
