HANOVER, N.H. – Dartmouth women's rugby handed Harvard its first loss of the season on a beautiful, crisp Saturday at Brophy Field, winning by a score of 45-31.
Six Big Green players scored seven tries, being led by
Ava Procter with a pair for 10 points.
Abbey Savin hit five conversions to also end the day with 10 points.
This was redemption for Harvard's 23-22 win in the NIRA Semifinal back in November of 2019, the last time the teams met.
Dartmouth (6-0) vs. Harvard (5-1)
The early parts of the first 40 minutes were spent entirely in the Harvard half, but the Big Green couldn't seem to get past the Crimson defense until almost halfway through. At the 18-minute mark,
Lilly Durbin broke through, leading the way for tries by
Lauren Ferridge,
Asialeata Meni and
Idia Ihensekhien in a 16-minute span. Savin hit some really tough angles to give the home team a 26-0 advantage. Harvard scored once before the end of the half to get on the board.
Procter and
Sophie Ragg added tries of their own in the first three minutes of the second to give Dartmouth an even bigger lead, but that was when the Crimson started to really turn it up. By finding holes in the Green defense, Harvard scored back-to-back-to-back tries and suddenly found themselves in contention with just over 20 minutes to play (38-24).
Six minutes after the visitor's third straight score, Procter was back for her second of the game to give Dartmouth some if its cushion back, only to have the Crimson get another seven points on the board 10 minutes later (45-31). Harvard kept pushing, but the clock wasn't in its favor.
Dartmouth will close the regular season next weekend at Brown.
18:14 – Durbin try, 5-0
23:11 – Ferridge try, Savin conv, 12-0
28:25 – Meni try, Savin conv, 19-0
34:02 – I. Ihensekhien try, Savin conv, 26-0
43:10 – Kim try, 26-5
41:06 – Procter try, Savin conv, 33-5
43:41 – Ragg try, 38-5
48:27 – Vincze try, Headland conv, 38-12
50:48 – Kearny try, Mior conv, 38-19
58:03 – Kearny try, 38-24
64:49 – Procter try, Savin conv, 45-24
74:47 – Sacher try, Mior, 45-31