One more win.

That is all the Georgetown men’s club rugby team would have needed to make a national championship appearance. Instead, the Hoyas’ title run ended one game short in the semifinals on Sunday with a 23-10 loss to Northern Colorado.

“We’ve been working hard all year. It’s been our goal to go to nationals. We played every game to get there,” Head Coach J.P. Perez said. “They were a good team. We gave it all we had.”

In Santa Cruz, Calif., Georgetown put up a solid effort against Northern Colorado, but it was not enough to move past the final four. The Bears dominated the time of possession, and the Hoyas were limited to only two tries, both scored by senior fullback Ben Purcell. The score was tied at halftime, 10-10, but Northern Colorado held Georgetown scoreless in the second half to advance to the finals.

“Obviously we are disappointed with the loss,” senior prop Patrick McKay said. “It was two evenly balanced teams, and they got the upper hand on a couple of calls and took advantage of our mistakes.”

Georgetown advanced to the final four with a win over Idaho State on Saturday. In an offense-dominated match, the Hoyas outscored the Bengals 58-19. Georgetown got on the board early with a try by senior flanker Greg Suellentrop and then went on to score 17 more unanswered points in the first half before Idaho State was able to capitalize on a Georgetown error and get on the board. In the second half the Bengals made an early run, but the Hoyas dominated the game and scored 34 points in the second half for the win and a spot in the final four.

“We dominated in all facets of the game. We played really well the first 20 minutes, went into a lull for the next 25 and then dominated for the last 35 minutes. We had the majority of the ball and took advantage of their penalties,” McKay said. “It was a total team effort.”

Georgetown saw scores from seven different players in the tournament. The Hoyas were led by senior flyhalf Jake Ludwigson, who had 19 points on the weekend, followed by Suellentrop and Purcell with 15 points each. Juniors prop Tony Gursich, wing Paul Detjen and outside center Brion McGlinn as well as sophomore flyhalf/scrumhalf Keith Summa each scored a try for the Hoyas as well.

The loss to Northern Colorado was only the second loss of the year for Georgetown. In the fall the Hoyas were undefeated, taking home the PRU championship in November. This spring Georgetown lost to the Virginia Military Institute in the Cherry Blossom tournament, but the Hoyas went on to win that tournament with a shutout of the Naval Academy the next day. Georgetown also claimed the MARFU title this spring with a 6-3 win over Salisbury State.

The Hoyas will finish the season this weekend at the Capitol Cup tournament, where they are the seven-time defending champions.

“It was the first time the Georgetown men’s rugby team had ever gotten this far,” McKay said. “We are extremely proud of what we have accomplished this season. It has been a wonderful trip.”