Although the score may have been lopsided, the men's rugby team took solace in the fact that it held the powerful University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth squad to its lowest score of the season Saturday at Gordon Field.The Judges concluded their fall season with a 60-5 loss to UMass-Dartmouth and also participated in the annual alumni game, in which score wasn't kept, later Saturday afternoon. With the loss, the team finished with a 1-4 record this fall.

Despite the blowout loss, captain and lock Jordan Goodnough '09 said he was impressed with the team's performance.

"I thought we played really well, and it was definitely the best game we played all season," he said. "They were just better technically."

Many of UMass-Dartmouth's points came following Brandeis penalties. Goodnough said that while the Judges played UMass-Dartmouth well during the majority of the game, the penalties eventually did them in.

"Those penalties really backed us into a corner," Goodnough said. "They pretty much scored on every chance we gave them to score. We didn't give them many opportunities."

The Judges' only score also came following a penalty. Wing Jacob Bockelmann '09 secured the ball following the referee's whistle and caught the UMass-Dartmouth defense off guard, racing into the end zone to score Brandeis' only five points.

Goodnough said the Judges played aggressively, but were simply overwhelmed by UMass-Dartmouth's speed.

"They were pretty quick on the wings, so when they got [the ball] out there, we had a hard time catching them," he said. "They were able to capitalize on small breaks because they were bigger and faster."

Even with no seniors on the roster, the Judges were able to match their 1-4 record from last fall. This year's squad had to replace 10 seniors from last season's group, and while the Judges experienced growing pains, Goodnough felt they improved in each game.

"We got better every game, and now with a lot of people having a full year under their belt," he said. "Next year, we're going to be much better.