STONY BROOK, NY – Sophomore Tyreik Thomas registered nine trys including four in the semifinal victory over the University at Albany as the Nazareth College Rugby team earned a second place finish in the first Liberty Rugby Conference (LRC) pool play tournament of the season.

Nazareth (5-3) won all three matches in the pool play and then downed Albany 27-14 to advance to the Cup Championship final against Iona.

Iona opened the scoring with an early try but Nazareth answered back with a run down the sideline for Thomas and the conversion kick gave the Golden Flyers a 7-5 lead.

The Gaels came back with a pair of trys in the second half to post a 15-7 for the championship title.

Nazareth opened play with a 19-12 win over Fairfield. Thomas scored first and junior Kyle Decker added a second try to increase the lead.

In the second half, junior Khyree Poole capped a long run by Decker to put Nazareth up 19-0. Fairfield scored twice in the closing minutes to trim the lead but the Golden Flyers held on for the first win of the day.

Decker scored early in the second match against Syracuse to give Nazareth an early lead but the Orangemen answered to tie the macth at 7-7.

Thomas, Decker and sophomore Seth Guay each scored to give Nazareth a 28-7 lead and Syracuse scored late for the final 28-14 win for the Golden Flyers.

In the third match of pool play, Nazareth surrendered the first try but Thomas answered to tie the game at 7-7. A second try by Thomas gave the Golden Flyers a 12-7 lead but Oswego scored before halftime to take a 14-12 lead into the short break.

Trys by sophomore Owen Fitzwater and Poole regained the lead for Nazareth at 24-14 and sophomore Jacob Townsand capped the scoring as Nazareth won 29-14 to finish pool play 3-0 and advance to the Cup Championship semifinal match against Albany.

Nazareth will play at the National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) automatic qualifier tournament April 2 in Boston. The Golden Flyers enter the tournament seeded eighth and will face St. Joseph's in its first match.