Eastern rugby had a weekend the players and fans in attendance will not soon forget.

They lost 20-19 to West Chester, but they played the entire game.

Eastern President Bill Perry, Interim Athletic Director Ken Baker and former Eastern president Lou Hencken all erupted in cheers on Eastern’s sideline when junior Molly Clutter scored the first try of Saturday’s first-ever NCAA rugby match.

This is a normal reaction, since they all have Panther pride, but it was much more than I expected.

Perry took off running a little bit with his hands in the air.

But he wasn’t alone; there were a lot of people screaming and cheering.

But it wasn’t just the cheering, it was the overall reaction of the crowd.

Being an Eastern home game, the majority of the fans were Panther fans and when Sasha Stauffer scored the go-ahead try, the fans went silent. In fact, the whole place went silent for a few minutes. It was the quietest moment at Lakeside Rugby Field all day, maybe before anyone had showed up.

It was the biggest turnout of fans for a match all season.

Most of the bleachers were filled. On Fourth St., pedestrians would regularly stop by the fence and watch the match, and cars would honk in approval of the match.

A majority of the people who stopped by the fence either watched a majority of the match or actually came through the gate and took a seat.

The hype of the game brought in more fans, but the rugby team may be able to have more returning fans for the next home match regardless to the loss, thanks to a well-played match.

The match was an upset. Eastern had been expected to win since they are a Division-I school, but the fans that attended the game got something better than a blowout they may be accustomed to when watching or hearing about Eastern rugby: they were able to watch two talented squads face each other and give it their all for 80 minutes.

The field was in good quality and the fans seemed thoroughly involved with the game.

All week the players and coaches on both sides have been talking about how they hope this game will spark an interest in the game.

As fans walked out of the gates, comments varied between sadness from the loss to those saying they couldn’t believe how close he game was.

Comments like that show that the match might have done just that.