Dartmouth Edges AIC, 24-22, in Season-Opening Victory

Saturday, September 3

Hanover, N.H.

1:00 PM

Dartmouth College

AIC

Dartmouth Edges AIC, 24-22, in Season-Opening Victory

9/3/2016 3:07:00 PM | Women's Rugby

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. – The 2016 Dartmouth women's rugby season began with a hard-fought 24-22 win Saturday at Brophy Field against American International.

Two second-half tries from freshman Becca Jane Rosko proved to be the difference in the season-opening win against an AIC team that finished third in the nation last season.

“We intentionally tried to schedule the best teams in the nation and it was clear that the final result shows that we were up to the challenge today,” head coach Katie Dowty said. “We wanted a battle, and although I think we let up slightly at the end, it's something we can learn from and improve upon moving forward.”

The match was a scoreless battle for the first 30 minutes before team captain Ashley Zepeda finally broke through with the game's first try. AIC matched just over three minutes later to tie the score at 5-5 with both team's failing to convert.

The Big Green took a 10-5 lead into intermission after sophomore Danielle Ramsay notched her first try of the season in the 40th minute.

The first of Rosco's two scores came in the opening minute of the second half and began at midfield. Making her Dartmouth debut, the freshman scooped up the ball at midfield, through off an oncoming defender with one hand and ran in for five points. Kat Ramage added the two-point conversion to push the advantage to 12 points.

The Yellow Jackets chipped away at the deficit with the game's next two tries to pull to within two, 17-15, by the 59th minute. However, another try by Rosco and conversion by Ramage with just over 10 minutes left moved the lead back to nine.

Even a late try and successful AIC conversion in the final minute was not enough to overcome Dartmouth's lead as the home team held on for the two-point win.

With the victory, the Big Green are now 7-1 in home games at Brophy Field since its elevation to varsity status last year.

Dartmouth heads to Army West Point next Friday (Sept. 9) afternoon for its next contest.