Dartmouth Opens Varsity Era With 77-5 Win vs. Penn

Sunday, September 13

HANOVER, N.H.

10:00 AM

Dartmouth College

Penn

Dartmouth Opens Varsity Era With 77-5 Win vs. Penn

9/13/2015 11:45:00 AM | Women's Rugby

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. – The new era of Dartmouth women's rugby began successfully Sunday morning at Brophy Field in the program's first game at the varsity level.

The 2015 season opened with the Big Green defeating visiting Penn, 77-5, in a contest that never seemed in doubt from the opening kick off. With the victory, Dartmouth moves to 1-0 in Ivy Rugby play.

“There was a lot of excitement around this game, but we talked about staying focused on our game, what we can control,” head coach Katie Dowty said afterward. “We're not building a new tradition here at Dartmouth, we're building on the foundation of one that is already very strong.”

Five different players recorded tries early on as the home team built a 29-0 lead just over midway through the first half. After Penn's only try of the day, the home team added another 19 points to head into the intermission with a 48-5 lead.

The second half was not much different in terms of point production as the Big Green outscored the Quakers, 29-0, over the final 40 minutes of action.

Senior Yejadai Dunn had a game-high three tries, giving her a game-high 15 points, while junior Audrey Perez added two for the Green and White.

Other tries came from Carolina Martinez, Ashley Zepeda, Melissa Biggs, Lily Jing Ting Zhang, Kat Ramage, Kerry Conlin, Morgan McGonagle and Aiko Laski.

Ramage, a freshman, finished the contest with four successful conversions, giving her 13 points. Also adding to the scoring was Tatjana Toeldte and her pair of conversions.

Penn's lone points came from Aiyasha Scott nearly 23 minutes into the game, but it was far from enough to slow down the Green on this morning.

“We're empowering every player on the pitch to be a decision maker, a playmaker, a striker and a running threat,” Dowty remarked. “That lends itself to a really dynamic style of play and our forwards love it. If we continue to be successful in adapting to that style, it opens up a ton of options for us.”

Dowty and assistant coach Matthew Cameron have had just over two weeks since the players' arrival for preseason to implement these new systems into game plans, but have liked what they have seen so far.

“This team has picked up this new attacking system faster than I've seen any team pick up such a change in play. I knew these players were going to be smart, but they've wowed me. The rugby IQ grows exponentially with every day and every game,” Dowty added.

“It's been really exciting and a big reason why I came to Dartmouth.”

The Big Green are back in action next Saturday, Sept. 19 when they travel to Hamden, Connecticut, to take on fellow varsity opponent Quinnipiac.