Ruggers Advance to Final but Fall to Utah in OT, 31-26, at CCI 7s - The University of California Official Athletic Site

Ruggers Advance to Final but Fall to Utah in OT, 31-26, at CCI 7s Cal ties match at end of regulation before Utes score in sudden death

Keegan Engelbrecht scored two tries in his last match as a Cal Bear.

June 6, 2010

Semis and Final Video Highlights
On-Demand Webcast at Hulu.com (One week after broadcast)

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Golden Bears brought a 5-0 tournament record into the Championship Final of the College Championship Invitational against Utah Sunday at Crew Stadium, where California tied the match at the end of regulation but could not stop Utes scrumhalf Don Pati from scoring the winning try two minutes into overtime, giving Utah a 31-26 victory.

"We were happy to score at the end of regulation but it left a very difficult conversion," Bears head coach Jack Clark said. "For as little training as we were able to put into this, I thought that at times we played some very good sevens. We like to compete and it was a good experience."

The day began with the Bears shutting out the Tennessee Volunteers, 36-0, in the quarterfinals as freshman Seamus Kelly scored a hat trick in the championship quarterfinals, followed by a five-try semifinal effort against the Arizona Wildcats, with a pair of tries from Sean Gallinger in a 33-0 win.

The final's matchup was the first meeting between Cal and Utah since the national collegiate semifinal of May 5, 2006, when the Bears advanced to the national collegiate championship with a 30-11 win.

Utah entered Sunday's 7s final with a 5-0 record and a 98-37 combined scoreline at the inaugural CCI, while Cal also came into the final unbeaten with a 157-7 for-against score.

The Bears had a tough task to take on the Utes, who feature center Thretton Palamo, a National Sevens and 15s player who saw action against South Africa at the 2007 Rugby World Cup; and Pati, a onetime member of the U.S. U-20 National Team.

The first half saw an early try and conversion by Keegan Engelbrecht quickly answered by a Utah try from Blake Miller, converted by Mike Wunderli. Two minutes later, Dustin Muhn picked the ball up from a hard-fought ruck and made two defenders miss on his 30-meter sprint into the try zone, with Engelbrecht connecting again on the conversion.

The ensuing kickoff saw Palamo outpace the defense down the pitch for a quick answer again from the Utes, but the angle from the right side was too tough for Wunderli to make the conversion, leaving the halftime score 14-12 in favor of the Bears.

Blaine Scully stole two consecutive lineouts but the Bears could not capitalize to start the second stanza, and Palamo soon turned on the jets again for his second try, converted by Wunderli to give Utah a 19-14 lead.

Cal answered back quickly when patient play gave way to a burst upfield by Colin Hawley, who found Engelbrecht in support. The senior flyhalf raced in for his second try and made the conversion to give the Bears the lead at 21-19. But Utah responded in kind as Ryan Bailey sprinted in to score for the third lead change of the game, the conversion by Wunderli making it 26-21 with time winding down.

The Bears were awarded a scrum as regulation time expired, and Cal made the most of its opportunity to play out the set piece before the whistle. Connor Ring finished the sequence on the right side, tying the game but leaving a tough-angled conversion attempt for Cal to win match. Engelbrecht struck the ball well but it went wide right.

The sudden-death overtime period began badly for Cal, as Engelbrecht's kickoff went directly out of bounds, allowing Utah to restart at midfield with a tap. The Bears were on their back foot and within two minutes, Pati found the gap he needed to win the match and the inaugural CCI 7s tournament for the Utes.

"We were glad to come out with the victory," said Pati. "Cal was a really good team."

"We knew we had a good chance to come out of our pool. To play a team like Cal and go down to the wire like it did, it's awesome," said Utah head coach Blake Burdette. "Every time we play Cal, they're a class act and we want to be where they are."

The Bears held their heads high exiting their first-ever assembly as a sevens team, the same format that will be employed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where rugby will make its return after a 92-year absence.

In his last match in a blue and gold uniform, Engelbrecht said he knew "it was one of those games that could go either way. We wouldn't have wanted any other opponent in the final. They're really hard guys to tackle. We fell off a couple of tackles and I think that was the difference. Coming off our college season, we would have liked to have won but it was a great event."

"We couldn't have asked for better competition," said Dan Lyle, the former U.S. National Team captain and the tournament's director. "That was probably one of the better sevens games I've ever seen."

The Quarterfinal Scoring Timeline vs. Tennessee

03:00 Colin Hawley 5

05:00 Derek Asbun 5, Keegan Engelbrecht 2

07:00 Dustin Muhn 5, Keegan Engelbrecht 2

Halftime: California 19, Tennessee 0

08:00 Seamus Kelly 5, Keegan Engelbrecht 2

10:00 Seamus Kelly 5

12:00 Seamus Kelly 5

Final: California 36, Tennessee 0

The Team vs. Tennessee

1. Asbun, 2. Kelly, 3. Scully, 4. Muhn, 5. Engelbrecht, 6. Gallinger, 7. Hawley ©
Replacements: Ring, Law

The Semifinal Scoring Timeline vs. Arizona