The weekend storm that swept through northern California might have been enough to postpone the women’s rugby game at UC Santa Cruz, but the freezing wind chill and rain was not enough to deter the men’s game against Chico State on Saturday.

The rugby club’s A-side team took to the field against the Wildcats at 1 p.m., just as the storm rolled in. Sophomore Craig Manno, a native of Santa Rosa, scored the first try of the game for Sac State.

“[We] thought we came out with lots of intensity,” Coach Chris Miller said. “Felt pretty confident during the first half.”

But by halftime the field was turned to mud as the rain accumulated on the field. Also accumulating were the amount of penalties accrued throughout the game, mostly for offside offences.

Sophomore Mark Pimentel from Morgan Hill was sin-banned for 10 minutes during the second half for repeated infringements. With the team short one player, Chico State capitalized on the opportunity and rallied, scoring several more tries before the game ended.

Down but not out, the team recovered Pimentel for the last few minutes of play and rallied for one more push down the field where freshman Shane Morgan from Loomis tried for the last score of the game.

The next men’s rugby game is against UC Davis Saturday at the Intramural Fields.

Justin Tejada can be reached at [email protected]