By Larry Mullenix
Arizona Daily Wildcat
The Arizona club rugby team spent the weekend playing in the inaugural California Invitational in Berkeley and came out with a third place trophy for its trouble.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, only four teams in all participated.
The UA fell to Washington 12-5 due to two errors late in the second half of the game, one on a blocked kick that was recovered in the try zone, the other on a mishandled kick by two UA backs.
The Wildcats rebounded in the consolation game by beating Ohio State 25-17. OSU had fallen to Cal Saturday and was fourth at the end of the weekend.
During the tournament, Armando Montero injured his knee and will be out for the season.
UA coach Dave Sitton believes his team was excited about playing in such a great atmosphere.
"When you are getting dressed for a match at Witter Field to play at California then you get more excited for it."
Witter Field, a new stadium built exclusively for rugby, was made possible because of the school's formidable tradition in the sport.
"The rugby program at Cal is so respected, and so to be invited for that kind of tournament gives our program a lot of recognition," Sitton said.
Cal won the championship by defeating Washington 80-0.