On Saturday, the NIU men’s rugby team took its season to the brink of perfection with a 57-0 win over the University of Chicago, giving the team a clean sweep in the Chicago Area Rugby Union.

“They were who we thought they were,” said president Al Collins. “Not the toughest team but we played very well.”

Collins said the Huskies built enough of a first-half lead to relax a bit in the second half of the game.

“Our pack really dominated versus their pack,” Collins said. “We were able to move the ball to the outside and beat them with speed.”

Jim Sronkoski, Vidal Martinez, Dan Joda and Steve Valentini were the outstanding players for the Huskies, who will now await future results to determine if they make playoffs next weekend in Whitewater, Wis.

Collins said he thought the team over-performed his pre-season expectations, when he hoped the team would finish atop the conference after a 3-2 season last year.

“I’m very happy,” Collins said. “I thought we could play pretty well and we ended up playing better than I thought. It’s been a very successful season.”

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