New Orleans, LA. – With their National Championship hopes dashed on Sunday, the Wheeling University Rugby team battled for fifth place at the National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) CRC 7's. They ended up splitting the day, picking up a win against Penn State and a loss against Indiana to finish sixth overall in the tournament. Wheeling finished the holiday weekend with a record of 3-2 and competed against some of the best Rugby programs in the Nation.

Match One: Wheeling 24, Penn State 21

The opening match of the day was the semifinal fifth place game as Wheeling battled Penn State Rugby. It was a tight match throughout as both offenses were working hard throughout the day. However, all the drama happened at the end with Wheeling trailing 21-17 with less than a minute to play. It looked as though Penn State was going to put the game out of reach as they had a player streaking down the field. However, coming from behind was Mohamed Haddar to make the ta lle and get the ball back in Wheeling's hands. Josh Blankenship then pitched the ball to Chief Chipfumbu and he did the rest he took the ball the length of the field and crossed the goal line just second before the 14 minute mark to tie the game at 22-22. Ayoub Jalli came in and made the conversion kick and Wheeling was headed to the fifth place game with a 24-22 win.

Match 2: Indiana 21, Wheeling 14

The fifth place match saw Wheeling take on the Indiana Hoosiers for fifth place in the Nation. It has been five years since the two teams met, and Wheeling was looking to get the upper hand on the Hoosiers. However, it was Indiana who got the game started off scoring the first two tries of the day. Wheeling did not score a try in the first half and were looking to break through in the second half. They were able to tack on two tries to make it a one point game at 15-14. However, the Hoosiers we're able to get the final try across the goal line to put the game out of reach and hand Wheeling the 21-14 loss. Despite losing the Cardinals were able to finish sixth in the nation and finished the CRC 7's with a record of 3-2 across the five games.

The Wheeling Rugby team now heads into the off+-season after the most successful season in program history, as they broke the single-season win record with 37, and look to build off that success in the future.