Liberty Latest: Northeastern Wins Clash Of 4-0 Teams

Liberty Latest: Northeastern Wins Clash Of 4-0 Teams

The Liberty Conference wraps up its regular season with Northeastern v UConn.

Nov 5, 2017 by Alex Goff
Liberty Latest: Northeastern Wins Clash Of 4-0 Teams

In a meeting of two 4-0 teams in the Liberty Conference on Saturday in Brighton, MA, Northeastern handed UConn a humbling 53-5 defeat to finish first in the Liberty Conference's New England Division.

While the Maddogs' scored three times in the first half — with centers Alex Tiarks and Nolan Currie scoring two of them and prop Be Keebaugh getting the other —Northeastern's 15-0 lead hardly seemed insurmountable.

However, in the second half, the Maddogs' open style of play and speed out wide caused all kinds of problems for the Huskies. Wing Deni Makhauri scored in the opening minute. Flyhalf David de Luzuriaga scored twice, and Tiarks got his second.

"There wasn't much we did well today," UConn coach Rob Merola said. "You come to compete for a championship and we were completely outplayed mentally and physically. 

"Coach Ed Turbidy, his staff, and his players were tremendous today and it was a tough lesson for our young team to learn. Congrats to Northeastern for excellent season."

Also in the Liberty Conference, Fordham defeated Colgate 55-12 behind a strong performance from fullback Paul Maloney, who was a defensive leader and scored three tries.    


Iona scored nine tries in beating SUNY Cortland 57-18 in a meeting of the top teams from the I95 and Empire divisions. Iona was without a couple of regular starters, but LaVar James scored four tries for the Gaels.

Rhode Island logged its second Liberty win with a 51-12 victory over Stony Brook on Saturday afternoon in Kingston, RI. The Rams recovered from a slow start that saw Stony Brook's Joseph Muller over the line three minutes into the game. 

The Rhody forwards quickly established a significant advantage over the Stony Brook pack and began to use it and some much-improved team defense to pressure the Seawolves, leading to three URI tries in nine minutes midway through the first half. No. 8 Jack Kelly, center Clayton Minnich and lock Tyler Inkley all touched down, and wing Killian Easton added another before halftime to give URI a 24-5 lead. 

Rhode Island added tries from Minnich and Kelly in the first three minutes of the second half, but Stony Brook fought back. Jose Rodriguez crashed in for a try at 51 minutes to make it 36-12.

However, the Rams continued to work and finished off the match with tries by Adam Nabb and Ryan Diogo and a third try by Minnich.