Harvard Men 38 - Penn 17

The HRFC opened up its Ivy League season with a strong showing against Upenn this Saturday. For the first ten minutes of the match, the back three of both Harvard and UPenn struggled to win the battle for field positioning as they volleyed a series of kicks back and forth.

The HRFC won this clash, allowing the Crimson offense to operate deep in UPenn territory. Harvard made the most of this opportunity by scoring off of a scrum. Flyhalf Gabe Cunningham skipped the inside center and hit Senior outside center Will Peck with a pass who offloaded to Senior Jonathan Kola. Kola then offloaded to Sophomore Brendan Hanrahan who scored the first try of the day, which was converted by Gabe Cunningham to make it 7-0 Harvard.

Penn answered back, scoring a try of their own off of a stolen Harvard lineout, which was converted to tie the match up at 7. The HRFC took the lead back a few minutes later after Kola had a long run up the sideline and offloaded to Hanrahan just before the tryline to give Brendan his second try of the day. This unconverted score put the HRFC up 12-7. Harvard scored again after its forward pack methodically drove the ball down the field with the pick-and-go, which Junior John Beddell touched down for the score. Junior Jaime Zobel converted this try to extend Harvard’s lead to 19-7.

The HRFC continued its offensive torrent with a try by Sophomore Tom Schadewald who bulldozed his way through the center of the Quaker defense, which Zobel converted to extend the HRFC’s lead to 26-7. Penn answered back with a maul off of a lineout, which lead to a converted try– cutting Harvard’s lead to 26-14. After kicking a penalty, UPenn began to look like they were mounting a comeback with the score 26-17. However, Sophomores Alex Cunha and Tom Schadewald each scored tries by breaking through the middle of Penn’s defense to put the game out of reach.

Harvard wins 38-17 and will play @ Princeton University tomorrow.