Big Green Set to Host Norwich in NCVWRA Varsity 15s Tournament

2015 NCWVRA Varsity 15s Tournament
Quarterfinal
Dartmouth Big Green (7-1) vs.
Norwich Cadets (3-5)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015 — 11 a.m.
Location: Hanover, N.H. — Brophy Field

THIS WEEKEND
The Dartmouth women's rugby team begins its first foray into a national tournament this weekend when it hosts Norwich in the inaugural National Collegiate Women's Varsity Rugby Association (NCWVRA) Varsity 15s Tournament Championship.

CHAMPS!
The Big Green claimed the Ivy Rugby Conference Tournament Championship this past weekend with a pair of wins over fourth-seeded Princeton (44-5) and second-seeded Brown (19-12). For Dartmouth, the Sunday afternoon win avenged a loss to the Bears in the 2014 Ivy title game also played in Hanover.

LAST TIME OUT
Trailing 12-0 at half, the Green and White mounted a fevered comeback in the second half to erase the deficit and pull even thanks to tries from seniors Yejadai Dunn and Tatjana Toeldte. Junior Audrey Perez finished the comeback bid with a try of her own roughly two minutes into extra time that gave Dartmouth its first lead of the day and proved to be the championship-winning score.

SCOUTING NORWICH
The Cadets finished the season with a 3-5 overall record, but has not played since a 45-6 win over Notre Dame College (Ohio) in its regular season finale on Halloween. Emily Colesworthy finished the year with a team-leading 10 tries this fall, including four against NDC two weeks ago. Sophomores Frankie Sands and Alanna Giradin rank second and third on the team in terms of scores with eight and six tries, respectively.

AGAINST THE CADETS
These two teams have met four previous times with Norwich taking the last three in 2009, 2010 and most recently last fall. Dartmouth's only win in the all-time series was a 17-12 victory during the 2008 15s' campaign.

WHAT'S THE FORMAT?
The winner of Saturday morning's game will advance to the Varsity Cup Final Four hosted by Brown the following weekend. Winners of each of the four quarterfinal games will play in the semifinals on Friday, Nov. 20 with the championship set for Sunday, Nov. 22. In the other three games, Quinnipiac hosts West Chester, Brown hosts AIC and Army hosts Harvard. The winners will meet at Brown's Marvel Field the following week.

HONORED AGAIN
For her efforts in securing the Ivy title in the team's first season as a varsity program, Perez was tabbed as the DartmouthSports.com Female Athlete of the Week. This marks the second straight week a member of the women's rugby team has claimed the distinction after Dunn was honored for her play in the regular season finale.

WHAT THE COACH SAYS
“The inaugural Varsity 15s National Championship is a big milestone for the NCAA women's rugby movement and the growth of our sport as a whole, and we are proud to be part of it. We have some big game experience now, and learned just how resilient we are in last weekend's Ivy RugbyChampionship final. With that added mental toughness, we are eager to face Norwich and test ourselves against a varsity program outside of the Ivy League.” – head coach Katie Dowty

COMEBACK!!
Dartmouth finished the season with a 7-1 overall record, including a perfect 7-0 record against the Ivies. Outside of the team's loss to Quinnipiac on the road in September, Sunday's game marked the only other time all season that the Big Green had trailed. Down by 12, Dartmouth came back to earn the win and secure the No. 1 seed in the upcoming national postseason.

WHAT'S AHEAD?
The winner will head to Brown for the NCWVRA Varsity National Championship at Marvel Field in Providence.

Schedules