ELKHART, Ind. - Looking for their first ever conference championship, the D1 rugby team was unable to come back and defeat #1 seed Bowling Green in the Eastern Conference championship game.  DU falls to 7-2 on the year with both losses coming against the Falcons.

Bowling Green, who handed Davenport their only loss this season, jumped out on top in the first five minutes to take a 7-0 lead after the try and conversion.  The Panthers' Cyrus Turner (Chicago, Ill.) though got DU on the board just minutes later but a failed conversion left Davenport trailing 7-5.

The Falcons continued to stay in the lead as they scored at the 23:30 mark to extend their lead to 14-5 but DU again countered with a try of their own, this time from Travis Kamstra (Grand Rapids, Mich.), to bring the score to 14-10 after another failed conversion.

The score would remain that heading into halftime and BGSU came out fast in the second 40 minutes to go on top 19-10.  Peter Soukrasmy (Holland, Mich.), who had a big game in the semifinal win over IU, then scored for Davenport but the Panthers were unable to convert the points after to leave the score 19-15.

BGSU then controlled play for the remainder of the game as they got a drop goal (3 points) and try plus conversion (7 points) for the final outcome of 30-15.

The loss is the second of the year for DU against Bowling Green. Davenport falls to 7-2 as they will now have the winter off before returning in the spring for the D-1 National Tournament.