April 10- Arizona scored a number of milestones yesterday against UC-San Diego in their final tuneup for what they hope will be a deep playoff run. In a match where a number of first side players were rested, the combinations mattered little as strong contributions helped the side to the largest margin of victory in the past three years.

 

In the start of a strong performance, Fullback Adam Wilson got the scoring going early, setting up Captain Cesar Davila for a try in his final home match and adding one of his own to go along with 7 conversions for a stellar day. Wilson was joined in the scoring by a number of players early, with Ian Hause touching down twice in a ten minute span in his potential final home game as a Wildcat. Jumping out to a 40 point lead in the first 21 minutes, the floodgates were opened early as Bryce Mantell, Jeremy Fleet, Sean Coleman, and Dacoda Worth touched down. After tries by Nick Alfaro and Wilson pushed the lead further, the Wildcats ended the half on a high, with Number Eight Ian Crilly scoring an impressive try in his debut before Garrett Walker scored the first of two tries to end the half with the Cats up 73-0. "We were really pleased with the performances of a number of players in that first half" said Head Coach Sean Duffy "we have some players we wanted to rest for the playoffs, but that opens the door for a handful of guys to show why they should be on that plane to LSU next week and a few guys punched their tickets today."

 

The second half allowed the Wildcats to hand a multitude of players their first minutes on varsity, with 7 young Wildcats scoring tries in their debuts. Particularly notable in the second half was the play of Center Rob Garcia, a walk-on who has emerged as a key young prospect in the centers, and Lock Max Stephan, another first-year Rugby player who has picked up the game fast and shows great promise for the future. "With only a limited number of players able to participate in what we hope will be a long playoff run, this was a great end of the year treat for some young guys who got to show their stuff in front of a nice home crowd" said Duffy.

 

With the regular season now complete and a first round playoff date against LSU upcoming, all focus now turns to the goal laid out at the beginning of the season- the program's first national championship. With five straight wins to end the season and momentum going in to the knockout stages, the Wildcats hope to continue the streak next week against the Red River Conference champions.

 

 

 

 

Scoring

Tries: Hause (2), Walker (2), Davila, Mantell, Fleet, Coleman, Worth, Alfaro, Wilson, Crilly, Harris, Garcia, Winder, Carlier, Vecchio, Johnson, Williams 

Conversions: Wilson- 8/12; Villalobos- 2/3; Carlier- 1/3; M. Rogers- 1/1