Wheeling, W. Va. – Thursday is a training day for the Wheeling University Rugby team (27-7) in Washington, DC as the Cardinals prepare for the 2023 Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC) 7's National Championship. They open their run in the tournament on Friday when they take on #8 seeded Howard University with opening kick-off at 3:36 PM. It is the third straight season that the Cardinals have qualified for the CRC 7's and they look to bring home their first National Championship in program history.
The Cardinals ended the regular season at the Adrian 7's, where they would be playing to determine who would be the 2023 Big Rivers Rugby Conference (BRRC) 7'S Champions. They opened the day against BRRC foe Iowa Central Community College in the third meeting between the two programs this season. They started things off with a 22-0 victory over the Tartans before taking just their second loss this 7's season to the University of Kentucky 19-14. As Pool play concluded, the Cardinals would play their quarterfinal championship match against Thomas More and picked up a 33-19 win. They then earned a meeting with Notre Dame College, the fifth time the two teams have met in 7's play and Wheeling pulled out a dramatic last second win at 22-21. The BRRC Championship game would be against Adrian, as it was during 15's season, and Wheeling would come out on top 10-7 to win their first BRRC 7's Conference Championship.
The Cardinal offense was soaring throughout the day, scoring 106 total points between the five games, but it was led by junior Joe Iye. Iye had been dealing with an injury that forced him to miss the first three tournaments of the spring, but he has come back strong. He was the team leader with eight tries at the Adrian 7's tournament and totaled a team-high 42 points across the five games. Iye is typically known as a defensive guy throughout his Wheeling career, but over his last two tournaments he has been a big part of the offense. In those two tournaments, Iye has combined to score 11 tries and has put up 57 points across the two tournaments. Iye looks to once again factor into the Cardinal's success on both sides of the ball during this tournament.
Along with Iye's success, the Cardinals will also see the return of two of their biggest leaders, Aaron Juma and Chief Chipfumbu each return to the Cardinals. Both players have been playing for the Zimbabwe National Team since early March as they got the opportunity to play for their home country. Juma was named an NCR Division I All-American as a freshman during the 15's season and was the Cardinal's leading try scorer with 14 scores in the fall. Chipfumbu was an NCR DI All-American two seasons ago and has been a leader for the team since he stepped on campus. The final piece of the Cardinal's offensive success is junior Mohamed Haddar, who leads the Cardinals in tries this 7's season. Haddar has totaled 22 tries and has gone 20-30 (66.6%). He has scored 150 points throughout the 7's season and uses a combination of speed and elusiveness to get down the pitch.
The Wheeling Rugby team enters the tournament as the #1 seed from the East Region and will begin their run against the #8 seed in Howard University. The first three rounds of the tournament will be in regional play, with the East Region championship serving as the quarterfinal round of the tournament. After that, the CRC 7's Semifinal game will be between the winner of the East Region and the winner of the South Region to determine who goes on to the 2023 CRC 7's National Championship game. The Cardinals finished a program best 6th in the nation last season, making it to the quarterfinal round and look to better that this season and make a run towards winning what would be just the second National Championship in Wheeling University history, with Wheeling Volleyball winning the first in 2015.
The Matchup
The Cardinals and Bison are meeting for the first time in program history in this year's CRC 7's National Championship tournament. The Bison have had a strong season where they were named the 2023 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Champions and the 2023 Gettysburg 7's Champions. They qualified for the 2023 CRC 7's for the first time in program history and will try to make a run as the #8 seed.
The Cardinals have only lost two games so far, this 7's seasons, with those losses coming against East Carolina University and the University of Kentucky. The Cardinals look to keep their momentum going and introduce the Bison to the 2023 CRC 7's tournament.
The Details
The opening kick-off for Friday's first-round CRC 7's matchup is scheduled for 3:36 PM at Cardinal Stadium at the Catholic University of America. You can watch the match live by clicking HERE.
