New Paltz, NY – The Mid-Hudson Valley based school, SUNY-New Paltz, played host to the Tri-State Conference 2025 Men’s 7s Championship. On a cloudy and gray day but with no rain, two fields were in constant use with referees from the Rugby Referees Society of New York in action and when all was said and done the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point had emerged worthy winners.

 

Every score and the standings are included in the link below  but after pool play the semifinalists were USMMA, SUNY-Maritime, Vassar College and Hofstra University.

 

In the first semifinal it went down to the wire and the Privateers of SUNY-Maritime prevailed 17-14 over the Vassar College Brewers. On the other side of the draw USMMA defeated Hofstra University 27-17 and that set up the final between the two nautical institutions that are based on Long Island and are fierce rivals. USMMA managed to control the final and only conceded 1 try while running up 26 points to take the title.

 

A huge thank you is owed to the referees from RRSNY Luke Fortuna, Casey Draskovich, Dana Wasserman, Cody Kuxmann and Brad Lawrence as everything went smoothly and they worked hard to cover all the matches. Also thanks is due to the host team SUNY-New Paltz for setting up the fields and being good hosts.