The Georgetown men’s rugby club team staked its claim as D.C.’s collegiate dynasty with a 34-0 shutout over Catholic University last Saturday to capture the Capital Cup for the seventh consecutive year.

The Hoyas finish their season at 11-3 after starting with an eight-game win streak. All three losses came in the past month. The first, a close 36-27 defeat by defending national champion Radford, came in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Football Union semifinals. The next two came at the hands of Harvard and Northeastern in the Cherry Blossom Tournament earlier this month. The Capital Cup championship, which Catholic sponsors, was the team’s first competition in three weeks.

“The Cherry Blossom Tournament was pretty disappointing,” senior lock Matt Knox said. “In the intervening weeks we worked hard but had a lot of fun.”

The cup has in past years brought together squads from Catholic, American, George Washington and Georgetown. This year, however, George Washington did not have enough players to field a team, so Georgetown had a bye directly into the championship of the three-team tournament. After Catholic defeated American 7-0 in the semifinal, the stage was set for Georgetown’s showdown.

Georgetown, which has now blanked Catholic (4-3-1) in its last three matchups for a total score of 93-0, opened the scoring early. In the first half, sophomore wing Paul Detjen, sophomore inside center Jeff Miller, junior fullback Greg Suellentrop and sophomore prop Kerr Mone each came up with a try, worth five points each. Junior flyhalf Jake Ludwigson rounded out scoring in the half with a conversion, worth two points, to bring the score up to 22-0.

“We scored right off the bat and pretty much dominated the game,” senior prop Matt Knox said. “We were really confident and came out there with a real bang.”

The second half saw more offensive action from the Hoyas as Suellentrop grabbed another try, along with sophomore eightman Mike Zoch. Ludwigson’s second conversion on the game brought the score to 34-0.

Suellentrop’s two tries secure him as the team’s leading scorer this season, racking up 95 points. He was the second highest scorer in the fall season with 70 points. The team scored 377 points this spring en route to finishing third in the MARFU tournament in March and winning the New Orleans Mardi Gras Rugby Classic in February along with their seventh straight Capital Cup.

“It was really disappointing to lose to Radford because we had high expectations. But I’m proud of the heart everyone had to stick together as a team,” Knox said but added, “As a senior who has been with this program for four years, this is the best semester we’ve had.”

As the season ends, the Hoyas lose five players to graduation. With 41 players on the roster, Georgetown should have enough depth to return strong in the fall season. The six top scorers this season will all return next year.

“This is the best bunch of guys I’ve ever met. They’re great teammates, and more importantly, great friends,” Knox said. “I hope that in the future we will get appreciation from the students and the university community.”