ALFRED, NY — The No. 13 ranked Alfred University men's rugby team cruised to victory in their first match at Saxon Hill 50-0 over Buffalo State on Friday night. 

"It was a great offensive and defensive match for the team and a great way to for the men's team to open Saxon Hill," Head Coach Dale Russell said. "Onto Brockport on October 16."

AU (4-1, 4-0 LERC) opened up their field at Saxon Hill on the right foot and never looked back. It would come behind three first-half tries from the Saxons, all battling to get beyond the try line. 

Ayomideji Israel-Akinbo (Makhanda, Eastern Cape, South Africa/St. Andrews College) broke through to score first, followed by two more tries to fight over the line. They were scored by Bruce Eggler (Fairport, NY/Fairport) and Joseph Bodley (Le Roy, NY/Caledonia-Mumford).

Alfred University exploded in the second half with five more tries, including two more from Israel-Akinbo to end his night with a trio of tries. Captain Chevon Adriaans (Paramaribo, Suriname/SGS) got an open field to get the scoring started in the second half.

The Saxons continued scoring, with spirited efforts from Phillip Peterson III (Auburn, NY/Auburn) and James Lowe (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates/BISAD) to wrap it all up. In addition to his try, Lowe would help put more points on the board with four conversions to reach the half-century mark victorious.

AU will host one final regular season home match in a conference final rematch against SUNY Brockport on Friday, October 16 at 6:00 PM atop Saxon Hill.

— Swords Forward Saxons —