SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio -- After beating St. Bonaventure to gain the top seed in Rugby East, Notre Dame College played No. 5 Siena College in the National Collegiate Rugby quarterfinal, at home, on Nov. 18. The weather was perfect for running rugby, a bit cold, but still sunny and dry. The Falcons were able to dominate with a 50-0 victory.
 
NDC won the coin toss and picked to kickoff to Siena. The game started with a lot of back and forth playing for territory. NDC men's rugby got a strong lineout on the 50m. Following that strong set piece, they mauled Siena 25 yards, showing the dominance of the Falcon forwards.
 
Remy Thomson pulled the ball out of the maul, found space in between the defense and accelerated toward the post to score five points. Lachlan McDonald found his kicking leg and converted the two points.
 
Siena pushed back hard, pinning NDC into their own half. The strong and patient defense of the Falcons kept Siena's attack from scoring any points. Following this immense effort, NDC worked back up the field to gain a lineout. A nice looping move created space for Tanner Smith to gain speed and break through the defense to score. The conversion was pushed over by McDonald.
 
NDC fired back, again, as a patient Remy Thomson worked his way around the ruck to go over the line for NDC's third try. McDonald kept his conversion percentage at 100-percent off the tee to increase the score to 21-0, in favor of NDC.
 
Working edge to edge, Clemente Aguirre threw a great skip pass to Killian Burns, who used his speed to dive toward the corner for a score. At halftime, NDC led 26-0 over Siena.
 
Siena started the second half with some pressure down in Notre Dame's half, due to a few NDC mistakes. However, the ball was cleared quickly and NDC found its way back down the field. Another attempt by Smith to get over the line was held up. But, the Notre Dame forwards created a dominating scrum, driving Siena eight yards back and leaving an open space for Marcus Jansen van Vuuren to dive over for the fifth try.
 
The Falcons pressed back into Siena's half and, with some broken plays, Christian Gatica used beautiful footwork to step past the line and the full back, eventually scoring underneath the post. McDonald converted to make the score, 38-0.
 
Aguirre threw a great offload through a tackle to George Brown, who passed it back to Aguirre to break through another tackle scoring just left of the posts. Again, making it easy for McDonald to convert.
 
Keeping Siena in their half, NDC held the ball in hand, creating strong front foot ball. McDonald grabbed the ball after it popped up from the turf and sent it to Burns, to score in the corner for his second try of the game.
 
Siena threw a last ditch effort to score, but the NDC wall did not move. With the victory over SC, Notre Dame has a 5-0 record in front of the home fans.
 
Next up for the Falcons is the NCR Semifinal matchup in Reading, Pa. They will play No. 4 ranked Indiana, on Dec. 2 at 5 p.m. The game will be streamed on The Rugby Network.
 
The other semifinal matchup will feature No. 1 Brown going up against No. 3 St. Bonaventure, at 1 p.m. The winners of each semifinal game will advance to play for a Division I National Championship, in Houston, on Dec. 9.