Hanover, NH. - As they entered halftime of Saturday's National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) D1 15's Playoff game, the Wheeling University Men's Rugby team (5-3-1, 1-3-1) found themselves trailing 28-7 against Dartmouth College. As they went into halftime, Head Coach Maxwell Hamilton left them with one simple message, "Don't let this be your last 40 minutes." The Cardinals took that message to heart, scoring 26 second half points and advanced to the NCR Quarterfinal round as they took down Dartmouth College 38-33 to keep their National Championship hopes alive.

With the score sitting at 28-7, Wheeling would turn to their leader for what would end up being a historic try. They got the ball into the hands of Alex Nyamunda who, instead of passing the ball off, took it all the way to the try zone. He would touch down the ball and with the score became the 15's single-season try leader recording his 13^th try of the season. Taku Musingwini would come on and kick through the conversion and Wheeling had cut the lead to 28-14. One score fueled the offensive fire for the Cardinals as they took the ball and ran with it. Just three minutes after their first second half score, it would be Wheeling's other leader, Panashe Mugorogodi, who got in the try zone. He would make his way down the sidelines and touchded the ball down to move Wheeling's deficit to 28-19. The missed conversion would keep the Cardinals at the 19-point mark, but were now just sitting 11 points back of Dartmouth.

The Big Green would get back on the board in the 51^st minute, getting across the try line to make it 33-19, but would end up missing the ensuing conversion. However, it would end up being the half of Mugorogodi, who entered the day trailing Nyamunda by one try. He would end up scoring his second try of the day in the 56^th minute, tying him with Nyamunda for his 13^th try of the season, Musingwini came through with the conversion kick and the Cardinals cut further into the lead, making it a 33-26 game with 25 minutes to go. Wheeling would get the ball back on the next kick-off and six minutes later, it was once again Mugorogodi getting into the try zone. He would break the new single-season try record with his 14^th try of the season in the 60^th minute, and the missed conversion would make it a 33-31 game with 20 minutes to play.

After allowing Dartmouth to get on the board in the 50th minute, the Cardinal defense would stiffen the rest of the way. Dartmouth would get within the 10-meter line on several occassions, but each time the Cardinal defense would come through with a stop. Then, in the 66^th minute, the Cardinals would take their first lead of the day courtesy of Mugorogodi. He would finish with his fourth try of the day, and the Cardinals led 36-33. Musingwini would come in and secure his fourth conversion of the day and the Cardinals were ahead 38-33. It would put the sophomore alone in the record books as the single-season try record, scoring his 14^th of the season. It would bring the game to its final score of 38-33, and help the Cardinals advance in the National Tournament field.

It would be Panashe Mugorogodi leading the way for the Cardinals,  scoring four tries and totaling 20 points of the day. All 20 of those points would come in the second half, and the sophomore tied his career high for tries in a game. Taku Musingwini finished behind him, finishing with eight points, going 4-6 in conversion kicks on the day. The final 10 points would be scored by two different players, with Alex Nyamunda and Mychal Andrews each crossing the try line once in the game. With the win, the Cardinals advanced to the Quarterfinal round for the fourth season in a row, and look to get to the semifinals in back-to-back seasons with a win.

In the first half of the game, it was all Dartmouth as the Cardinals were trying to find their footing on the pitch. Dartmouth would score each of the first two tries of the day, getting out to a 14-0 lead over the first 20 minutes of play. Wheeling would get their lone score in the 22^nd minute, dishing the ball off to Mychal Andrews. Andrews would take it the rest of the way, touching the ball down and getting the Cardinals on the board. Musingwini sailed through the conversion, making it a 14-7 game. However, Dartmouth added two more tries and two more conversions before the half was out, and took a 28-7 lead into halftime. The Cardinals would put together a big second half as they rounded out the day.

The Wheeling University Men's Rugby team returns to action on Saturday, November 22^nd, when they take on Queens University of Charlotte in Semifinal round action.