On a typically gray New England afternoon, the Brandeis men's rugby club took the field to defend its undefeated and unscored-upon streak against Massachusetts Maritime College. Solid play won the day for the Judges as they felled another foe by a lopsided score of 25-0 at home on Saturday, bringing their record to 3-0.Although Brandeis expected a challenging game, the first 10 minutes solidified that the Judges would maintain their dominance in league play. Brandeis continually pushed the ball into Mass Maritime's territory, and after that first 10 minutes, Nick Lata '05 scored a tri to put the Judges up 5-0.

"We had trouble getting our intensity up initially," Dan Mauer '06 said. "We weren't expecting them to be as good as they were."

But that lack of intesnity didn't show, as just 13 minutes later, the Judges scored again, this time on a kick from Josh Sugarman '05 to gain an 8-0 advantage.

But then Mass. Maritime questioned the Judges' superiority, winning a scrum at midfield and making several passes to advance deep into Brandeis teritory. But an excellent kick by Morgan Miller '06 haulted the opponent's momentum.

Then, with halftime nearing, the Judges made a spectacular play when Sugarman scored a tri after recovering his own kick in the trizone. At the half, Brandeis led 13-0.

In the second half, Mass Maritime began to slow down the Brandeis attack, winning five line-ins and one scrum in the first 13 minutes of the half. The Judges responded with another Sugarman tri followed by a successful conversion to give Brandeis a 19-0 lead.

With several minutes remaining in the game, darkness fittingly fell over the playing field as if to symbolize Mass. Maritime's defeat. In the growing twighlight, Brandeis svaed its most spectacular play for last. With nine minutes left in the game, Lata slashed and darted his way up the field following a scrum. He advanced the ball to within 20 yards of the trizone before he was felled. Brandeis then kicked the ball forward, leaving it up for grabs. As the ball rolled into Mass. Maritime's trizone, Ahron Lerman '05 sprinted towards the ball. With several Mass. Maritime players on his heels, Lerman dove headfirst into the trizone, clutching the ball tightly as several opponents crashed around him. Sugarman then completed another conversion, giving Brandeis its 25-0 win.

"The performance was great, [Brandeis] showed great heart and no small amount of skill," Coach John Dalton said.

With this win, the Judges have now outscored their opponents 116-0. This impressive performance can be attributed to three things.

"There's a combination of three things that makes us better," Mauer said. "Probably the most important thing is Coach Dalton. He's had decades of experience in rugby. Before, without a coach, we were just grasping at whatever came to us."

"Then we also have the addition of some new players. The third thing is that most of our team is back from last year. That extra year of experience and maturity has made a huge difference," Mauer said.

Dalton came to Brandeis in response to a want-ad and he has quickly whipped a once coachless team into shape. He has spent mush of his time on the finer points of passing.

"We need to work more on our passing and reading of the game," Dalton said. "We often fail to see a teammate in a better position, and when we do so, we fail to make the pass. Of course we'll spend time on this in practice. The only one who can pass is Sugarman, and he won't pass it," he said.

Despite this passing deficiency, the Judges have been dominant. Dalton has a simple explaination for that.

"[It's because of] great tackling, and I think that they are developing a sense of pride in shutting out other sides," Dalton said. "The motto has changed from 'nobody beats Brandeis' to 'nobody scores on Brandeis.'"

The men's rugby club's next game is this weekend against Maine Maritime College.