A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Ferris State was leading by 12 at halftime.

The men’s rugby team traveled to Big Rapids on the night of September 29 to play against Ferris State University.

As a club, the team travels around the state playing various schools with accredited teams.

The first half was favorable for the Knights; Calvin lead by a score of 12-0 early on. This was due to runs by Brad Lanser and Walter Eythan Nobles, as well as a conversion by Samuel Scheenstra.

The Knights began to falter in the second half, however. With three yellow cards and gaps in the defense, Ferris State was able to score 33 points in the second half, eventually leading to a loss for Calvin.

The game had not gone well for Calvin, but there was reason for optimism.

“It was a rough game. We definitely shot ourselves in the foot in many areas,” said Calvin team captain Peter White. “We also did many things well. We had great defense in the first half, in the second half we played good defense again, but we continually came up offsides, we were making basic mistakes, there were many avoidable errors that we didn’t make efforts to avoid, but we need to look at these errors and learn in practice this week to come back next Saturday and not make the same mistakes.”

Robert La Placa, a senior, shared in the optimism. La Placa noted that the score may not reflect Calvin’s effort, but they gave everything they had.

“Good game,” said La Placa. “We have some technical stuff to work on, but we showed a ton of heart, push, and grit. We played until the final whistle. I’m proud of what we did, what we were able to do. We had some good plays, but they had some better.”

The men’s rugby team will play against Grand Valley State University this Saturday October 7 at 1 p.m.