Waterloo men's rugby lost 23-14 to the Laurier Golden Hawks in the Battle of Waterloo in their home opener on Wednesday at the CIF field.

Laurier's offensive dominance led by Kyle Spicer helped overcome a strong first-half push by the Warriors. Aaron Goodridge (Waterloo/) and Kyle Kramer each scored a try while Jason Park and Kyle Kramer each added a convert in the loss.

Laurier's Kyle Spicer scored a penalty goal in the early stages of the game to take an early 3-0 lead. Waterloo's Aaron Goodridge (Waterloo/) answered with the Warriors first try of season minutes later followed by an impressive convert by Jason Park to put Waterloo ahead 7-3.

The Warriors would pad their lead shortly after with a powerful push from Kyle Kramer to extend their lead 12-3. Aaron Goodridge (Waterloo/) would add 2 more points with a successful convert after a generous bounce from the uprights to go ahead 14-3.

The Golden Hawks Tomas Larouche and Kyle Spicer would each add a penalty goal to shorten the gap to 14-8 before the first half concluded.

The second half opened with strong defensive play from both squads with possession changing often. Joshua Clayton of Laurier would push through Waterloo's defence to give Laurier their second lead of the game at 16-14. The convert was converted by Kyle Spicer to go ahead 18-14.

Laurier wouldn't look back after an impressive kick and retrieve play by Kyle Spicer in the dying stages of the game to extend the Hawks lead to 23-14. Laurier would stand tall and win the Battle of Waterloo 23-14 to go to 1-0 on the season.

Waterloo will look to get back to .500 this Sunday, Sept 7 when they take on the Brock Badgers at 3pm on Warrior Field.