Big Green Drop One-Point Heartbreaker to Crimson in NIRA Semifinal

Saturday, November 9

Cambridge, Mass.

12:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Harvard

Idia Ihensekhien in action in the NIRA Semifinal

Junior Idia Ihensekhien

Photo by: Zach Webster

Big Green Drop One-Point Heartbreaker to Crimson in NIRA Semifinal

11/9/2019 1:35:00 PM | Women's Rugby

By: Charlotte Brackett

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – No. 3 Dartmouth women's rugby led until the final minute of the second half, falling to No. 2 Harvard, 23-22, in the NIRA Semifinal on Saturday.

Junior Idia Ihensekhien and sophomore Ariana Ramsey were instrumental, scoring a pair of tries each.

"I am incredibly proud of our performances today and I couldn't have asked for more from our players," head coach Katie Dowty said. "We won several areas of the game, in particular the scrum, but were on the wrong side of the penalty count. Obviously, this isn't the way we wanted to end the season, but we have a lot to celebrate this year. We have had incredible leadership throughout from our veterans, several of our younger players have had a breakout year, and our game understanding has grown immensely. We have a lot to be proud of and a lot to look forward to in the years to come."

A Harvard penalty kick eight minutes in gave the home team an early 3-0 lead, and it looked as if Dartmouth could get some points of its own on the board three minutes later but was held up at the tryline. Fast forward a few more minutes and Ihensekhien strong-armed her way through traffic to give the Green the lead (5-3).

It remained a two-point game until the 33:00 mark, when Ihensekhien was back for more, evading two Crimson defenders to get through for her second try. With a Kristin Bitter conversion, Dartmouth extended its lead to 12-3. Harvard responded in the final minutes of the half and missed the conversion, making it a 12-8 game heading to the intermission.

The Crimson scored a minute into the second half to take a one-point lead, but the Green answered in a big way six minutes later when Ihensekhien connected with Ramsey, who ran in for a try to give the lead back to Dartmouth (17-13). The two were back at it at the 53:00 mark, running the same play to put the Green ahead by nine.

Having been scoreless for over 20 minutes, Harvard picked up a timely seven points to make it a 22-20 match with 17 minutes to play. Since last scoring, the home team continued to pressure, but Dartmouth's defense (and some huge tackles by senior Becca Jane Rosko) kept the Crimson out until a penalty kick in the final minute put Harvard up one by one. The Big Green tried to turn things around but ran out of time.

The Big Green saw their season end, while the Crimson will advance to the NIRA Final on Sunday, Nov. 17.