Clemson's dream run in the Varsity Cup is over after falling to Navy 24-23 in Annapolis on Saturday. It was a tight contest throughout with Navy only sealing the win in the final few minutes. Clemson once again showed great ambition going forward and will exit the tournament having gained momentum for next season. Navy will feel a bit lucky to come away with the win but will take plenty of lessons in their next match. Fly-half Jack McAuliffe was once again at the center of things for Navy. Navy will next play the winner of Cal-Texas (in other words, Cal).
Riding their energy from their win over Arkansas State Clemson came out attacking early and nearly had a try when Chris Abraham put a grubber into the corner. Unfortuntely he couldn't recover for the try. However, the pressure soon earned Clemson a penalty that Aaron Keers hit to make it 3-0 early.
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Navy settled down after the penalty and put the pressure on Clemson. They were eventually rewarded as they made a break to score via Cade Pope and take a 7-3 lead. Still, the first half mostly belonged to Navy. The Tigers were able to retake the lead just a few minutes later when a maul led to James Rogers picking up the try. Keers would convert and Clemson would led 10-7.
McAuliffe would even the score for Navy with a penalty not long after but Clemson didn't waste time in retaking the advantage. Rogers made a 30 meter break and when Navy committed the penalty Keers hit the kick to make it 13-10. Navy then made then worse on themselves a few minutes later when they were shown a yellow card for repeated infringements. With the man advantage Clemson were able to find space where Dylan Goulding would score the try. The conversion missed but Clemson held a 18-10 lead at halftime.
As much as the first half belonged to Clemson the second half belonged to Navy. The Midshipmen used a 5 meter scrum to break the line and see Ron Helms go in for the converted try. The Tigers responded with a line break from Goulding and then a series of offloads where Ryan Gilroy scored. The conversion missed again and Clemson led 23-17.
However, Navy fought back and after they won another scrum they went on the outside and find Kevin Kirchmer for the try. McAuliffe would step up to hit the conversion and give Navy a 24-23 lead. Clemson would push to try and take the lead back but Navy held on for the win.
After the match Clemson head coach Justin Hickey was proud of his team. "Really difficult pill to swallow. Probably the toughest loss I've ever experienced. I'm proud of our team they overcame so much adversity getting here and through this match. Unfortunately, we couldn't catch that break at
the end to seal the deal. I'm not sure we could have executed our game plan much better. We feel hard done. But credit to navy for stealing this one and doing what was necessary to get the result."