Tucson, Ariz- The No. 11 Arizona Wildcats rugby team earned their biggest win of the season thus far, rallying from an early deficit to win in dramatic fashion 40-36 over #17 Colorado Buffalos.

The win was Arizona’s first league win of the year and keeps the Wildcats in the hunt for a postseason birth.

Playing without seven regular starters, Arizona had some work to do and were down 8-0 early within the first five minutes of the contest. Colorado kicker Jean Claude put the Buffalos on the board in the early going with a penalty kick. The scoring didn’t stop there as Sean Kilfoyle extended the lead to 8-0 after scoring the game’s first try. All of sudden Arizona found itself in a hole, but the Wildcats responded just as they did last week.

10 minutes later Jack Arnold and David Bertoldi teamed up for back to back try scores and Arizona took a 10-8 lead. The seesaw battle continued as the Wildcats and Buffalos traded scores all game long. However in the end Arizona’s six tries turned out to be one too many for Colorado to handle as the ‘Cats hung on to earn a much needed 40-36 victory.

Junior wing Jacob Haebe and sophomore center Cody Naber scored tries for the Wildcats. Senior flyhalf Trevor Brady also scored two tries for Arizona in the last 15 minutes of the contest. Senior flyhawk Trent Fischer also slotted two penalty goals and two conversions on the day.

“This is a win the Los Angeles Times would describe as a team coming in and fighting like wild cats,” said Arizona head coach Dave Sitton. “Seriously, this was a big win for us though.”

After a week off this weekend, the Wildcats will get back to work and close out their homestand when they welcome in Utah on March 24th.