Blugolds Win Gold in Men's DIII

It was a long journey to the top of the DIII mountain for the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, but it ended with the sweet relief of hoisting a championship trophy after the Blugolds beat Springfield 22-0 on a windy Saturday night at the Maryland Soccer Complex.

Eau Claire threatened early but a beautiful cover tackle by Springfield’s Kyle McLoughlin, an All-Tournament selection, kept the Blugolds from hitting paydirt. The score remained knotted at zero deep into the first half before William Coenen was finally able to break the stalemate. A Springfield penalty in front of the posts and a quick tap by Eau Claire led to Coenen’s score and an early yellow card awarded to the Pride for not getting back ten on the penalty.

That yellow card allowed Eau Claire to pad their lead before the half, with another score by Joe Westley. Riley Hammel opened the second half with a score to further pad the lead. And MVP Cal Schmitz put an exclamation point on the win with a late breakaway try in the waning minutes to seal the victory.

Eau Claire punched their ticket to the CRC’s way back in March after winning the Peach Cup in Atlanta – the same Automatic Qualified that Premier cup champion Wheeling won to lock up their spot at the greatest show in college rugby – but continued to travel the country, playing in a number of competitive tournaments almost every weekend over the next two months.

The grind paid off for the Blugolds as they had to overcome a number of tough tests throughout the weekend. They went up against an incredibly tough Richmond side in the one-seed, eight-seed matchup on day one, prevailing 24-14 after a late try by Schmitz. They had another fight on their hands in the second round, coming up against a Denver side featuring All-Tournament team selection Anthony Rice. The 19-12 win propelled them into a semifinal matchup with the 2-seeded Duke Blue Devils, which they also won 19-12.

Springfield’s head coach Luke Salls said his team knew they were good enough to make it into the stadium on day two. And they proved it by knocking off the defending champs Slippery Rock in an epic 17-12 semi-final win first thing Saturday morning. McLaughlin, Aiden Gallagher and Paul Barnaby scored for the Pride in the win. Springfield also beat six-seed John Carroll, who upset Providence College in round one.

2025 All-Tournament Team

• Anthony Rice, Denver, Graduate Student
• Charlie Ackla, Christendom, Sophomore
• Calvin Schmitz, Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Senior
• Kyle McLoughlin, Springfield, Junior
• River Hanson, Duke, Sophomore
• Zachary Herrington, Slippery Rock, Junior
• Aloysius Tubbs, John Carroll, Senior