Fielding a mixed side of first and second siders, Wake lost both its pool matches in the inaugural Atlantic Coast Invitational Rugby Tournament in Raleigh, NC on Saturday. Clearly tired and uninspired after a long weekend of rugby in the South Final Four last week, Wake held tight with Maryland in its first match, before Maryland pulled away behind the strength of their forwards to win 22-0. In Wake's second match, they were completely dominated 32-0 by Florida State, who proved to be the surprise of the tournament. Florida State's backline put together a number of fantastic movements, something that was rarely seen throughout the tournament due to the miserable weather and field conditions.
The semifinals of the tourney pitted University of Virginia against Florida State and University of North Carolina against Maryland. In the first semifinal, Maryland defeated UNC 19-11, utilizing their forward-based style to grind away in the muddy conditions. At times Maryland was driving mauls with as many as 13 players, and despite the fact that UNC had staked itself to an 11-5 lead, Maryland fought back in the second half to move into the final.
UVA defeated FSU 10-8 in the second semifinal, as UVA's Australian fullback notched a penalty goal with only seconds remaining in the match to steal the victory. This was Florida State's second last minute loss of the tournament, as the day before in pool play they were defeated by Maryland on a try on the game's last set piece.
In the final it looked to be all UVA from the start, as they dominated possession and territory and jumped out to an early 5-0 lead. But Maryland was able to slowly exert their style of play on the Cavs and eventually knotted the score at 5 apiece. The match looked to be headed to overtime, when Virginia put together a nice string of phases and touched down in the corner to take the lead with minutes remaining. Maryland fought hard to get the equalizer, but was unable to really threaten and Virginia won 12-5, capturing the first ever Atlantic Coast Invitational Rugby Championship.
