Women's Rugby Sweeps Pool Play At CRAA 7s National Championship

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—The Dartmouth women's rugby team played pool play on Friday at the CRAA 7s National Championship. The Big Green opened the day with a 42-5 win over LIU. Dartmouth then improved to 2-0 with a 44-7 win over Penn State. The Big Green closed out the day with a 19-10 win over Davenport.

The Big Green came out of the gates strong as they took an early 5-0 lead on a try. Less than a minute later LIU tied the game at five, it would be the final try for the Sharks. The Big Green jumped out to a 24-5 lead at halftime. Dartmouth continued to pour it on in the second half and closed out the match with a 42-5 lead to open pool play 1-0.

Dartmouth jumped out to an early lead against the Nittany Lions as Annie Henrich notched a try about a minute into the match. Paola Arredondo Almeida doubled the Dartmouth lead about two minutes later as she made it a 10-0 game. Sadie Williams was the next member of the Big Green to find the try zone as she made it 15-0 with about 90 seconds remaining in the opening half. With less than a minute in the first half, Arredondo Almeida sprinted into the try zone to make it a 20-0 Dartmouth lead at halftime. Jordis Lomu battled her way into the try zone less than a minute into the second half. About a minute later, Cassie Depner powered her way into the try zone to make it 30-0 Dartmouth. Asialeata Meni went on a long run around the 11 minute mark of the game after taking a quick pass from Lomu. Meni fought off multiple defenders as she found the try zone. The Big Green hit the conversion to make it 37-0. The Big Green found the try zone once more with about a minute left in the game as Depner scored her second try of the game to it make it 44-0. Penn State scored once as they made it a 44-7 final score.

Vasiti Turagavou got the Big Green on the board just 45 seconds into the game. She took the ball and faked a pair of passes before sprinting through the Davenport line and into the try zone. Henrich knocked the conversion through the uprights to give Dartmouth a 7-0 lead. Just over two minutes later, the Big Green made it 12-0 as Katelyn Walker powered into the try zone. The 12-0 lead held until just over two minutes into the second half as Davenport found the try zone. The Panthers took advantage of a Big Green turnover and made it a 12-10 game with about two minutes remaining. As time was set to expire Arredondo Almeida sprinted into the try zone to increase the Dartmouth lead. Jordynn LeBeau hit the conversion to close out the game.

It is the third straight season that Dartmouth has won all three games of pool play at the CRAA Nationals 7s Championship.

The Big Green seek a 7s National Championship on Saturday. The first quarterfinal is slated to start at 9:22 AM on Saturday morning. Semifinal matches will start at 2 PM with the final being at 4:56 PM. All matches are streamed for free on 'The Rugby Network'.

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