Dartmouth Women Open 7s Season With Strong Performance

In a promising start to its inaugural Spring 7s season, Dartmouth beat Navy, Army’s second side, and Boston University, tied Army’s first side, and had its only loss against current National Champions Norwich University when they traveled to West Point this past weekend. The DWRC, along with many teams from the Northeast, the Midwest, and the Rocky Mountain region, has joined the American College Rugby Association (ACRA) with National Championships for 15s in the fall and 7s in the spring rather than split seasons of both 15s and 7s.

The DWRC made it to the Elite 8 in ACRA this fall, losing to Army in the finals of pool play, and won its last three 15s matches of the year while on tour in Scotland over break. The first week of classes was also the first week of 7s training, and the Big Green will participate in tournaments for the remainder of the spring, finishing at the ACRA National Championships at Wayne State, Michigan on May 3 and 4.  

Several key players, including the DWRC’s leading scorer Diana Wise ’15 and Captains Pallavi Kuppa-Apte ’14 and Alexandra Murray ’14 were not available for this tournament, and several rookies played 7s for the very first time, boding well for the remainder of the season. The DWRC travels to UNH this Saturday, where they will get another opportunity to match up against Norwich and other top DI teams.   

Dartmouth College 0, Norwich University 22

Temperatures in the 40s and slashing rain and wind made ball handling challenging for all the teams in the tournament, but the DWRC felt fortunate to be at West Point where the rugby pitches are at least clear of snow. Both the Cadets and the Big Green were plagued with handling errors in the first half that forced them into a vertical game, and both defenses were organized enough to prevent breaks through the tackle line. The half ended scoreless. 

Norwich’s halftime substitutions brought more speed in the forwards and more skill in the inside backs. The Cadets improved passing and mobility opened up the game and allowed standout Joya Clark to get on the board twice, and to set up a third try, with great runs up the touchline. Norwich took advantage of the Big Green’s rookie replacements, catching them out of position for the final try of the match as the clock ran out.   

Dartmouth College 19, Army White 5

Army’s second side was next on the DWRC dance card. They were underclasswomen of various levels of experience, some very new to the game. The Big Green dominated play despite a rash of penalties and continued ball handling issues, and its first try of the day occurred at the 5 minute mark as Tatjana Toeldte ’16 ripped the ball away from an Army player and Leandra Barrett ’15 sent the ball wide to rookie sweeper Karampreet Kaur ’15. Audrey Perez ’17 went over the line 2 minutes later at the end of a long offensive series. Michaela Conway ‘15 converted both tries to end the half at 14-0.

Army got a break and made the most of it in the opening minute of the second half, sending a speeding outside back up the middle after a stolen line out on their 22 for their only try of the match. Shortly after, scrumhalf Barrett and loosehead prop Yejadai Dunn ’16 applied intense pressure after an Army scrum at the Army 22, with Barrett tackling the ball out of Army’s first receiver’s possession in the try zone and Dunn diving on the loose ball for the Big Green’s final try of the game. The conversion went wide and the score stood at 19-5.

Dartmouth 14, Navy 0

One of the prettiest tries of the day occurred at the Navy kickoff to Dartmouth in the DWRC’s third match. The kick went deep into Dartmouth territory, but with a catch by Barrett and quick passes from her to Toeldte, they released first-year Perez up the 15 meter line for a brilliant 70 meter run. Navy’s sweeper did a nice defensive job and was poised to tackle Perez 8 meters from the try line but Perez delivered a perfect angle-changing offload to a sprinting Barrett who fended off the sweeper and touched down between the posts. The conversion was good for a 7-0 start.  

The next DWRC try resulted from intense Big Green pressure on Navy’s kickoff return effort. Dartmouth overwhelmed the Midshipwomen as they scrambled to get something going, recovered possession, and sent Perez in through the disorganized defense for the try. Conway converted to up the score to 14-0. Navy made it to Dartmouth’s 40 meter line on the next kickoffs, but the Big Green again took possession and played the remainder of the half once again knocking on the try line door.

14-0 would be the final score of the match, as the DWRC camped in the Navy defensive end for the first half of the 2nd half but couldn’t get it’s offense going. Barrett went out with an injury, and DWRC subs, including rookie Aiko Laski ’17, delivered notable defensive performances in the closing minutes of the match, but were unable to add to the tally.  

Dartmouth 10, Army Black 10

The DWRC once again pressurized the receivers in their game-opening kickoff, with Yejadai Dunn regaining possession for the Big Green in an aggressive tackle. Toeldte moved the ball wide to Perez who was penalized a meter from the try line for not releasing in the tackle. Dunn, who played all day with great ball awareness, intercepted an Army pass off the re-start and dove under the posts for the opening try. Conway, the only Dartmouth player who played every minute of the DWRC matches, began to show some fatigue as she uncharacteristically sliced the center kick and missed the easy conversion.  

Handling continued to be an issue as the rain grew heavier and the Army tackles grew more aggressive, causing scrum after scrum as the Big Green camped in the green zone not long after the second kickoff but couldn’t seem to finish. Persistence finally paid off as Perez eventually muscled the ball over a tackler and across the line for the touch down.   The kick went wide for a 10-0 halftime score.  

The second half began with Army’s speedy 3rd receiver, who had scored several tries against Dartmouth in ACRA 15s pool play in the fall, finally getting an opportunity to turn on the jets from an Army scrum at their own 40. Perez was sweeper at the time, and took too shallow an angle in the tackle attempt. Army got on the board with an unconverted try.

A nice offensive series off the Army kickoff put Dartmouth back in scoring position, but handling errors once again caused a turnover and Army’s speedy winger got her second chance in an identical run up the line. This time Perez ’17 was ready, and tackled her into touch at the Dartmouth 22. The DWRC worked the ball back to midway as the clock ran down, but Army’s 1st receiver made a great run off an Army ruck, giving two Dartmouth rookies their first straight arm to the face before taking the corner to score with no time left on the clock. Dartmouth had to settle for a disappointing tie both in the game and for 2nd place in the tournament.   

Dartmouth 17, Boston University 12 

B.U.’s kickoff went deep but a lucky bounce gave them possession near the Dartmouth 22. The Big Green’s pressure defense drove them back to their own 40, where Dartmouth then ripped the ball away from the ball carrier. The rain and wind, combined with the fatigue of playing in these conditions for five matches, made handling so difficult that it was almost easier for teams to move forward on defense than on offense. And the DWRC did just that, moving down the pitch on defense as they forced one handling error after another, until they found themselves in scoring position with a scrum. Sweeper Becky Marder ’15 got a great pass from Toeldte and put the burners on for the 20 meter try. The conversion fell short for a 5-0 lead.  BU responded with the next points when their crafty 1st receiver threaded the needle up the middle after winning Dartmouth’s put-in at a scrum on the Dartmouth 40, and the half ended at 5-5.  

Dartmouth pressurized their 2nd half kickoff and recovered the ball, getting it wide to Perez who raced down the touch line and towards the middle of the try zone. Her touch-down did not satisfy the referee, however, who let play continue as the talented BU sweeper scooped up the ball and raced out of the try zone. Dartmouth re-gained control at the 22 meter line and spun it wide to Aiko Laski ’17 who sped into the try zone to put the Big Green ahead 10-5, and Conway’s conversion upped it to 12-5. B.U. came right back, turning a pass that went 20 meters backwards into a try as it was cleaned up and delivered to their sweeper, who made a 70 meter run up the middle for a try with an easy conversion, and the score stood at 12-12. The DWRC turned the defensive pressure up even higher in the last minute, resulting in a Dartmouth scrum with no time remaining on the clock. The DWRC worked the ball up and across the pitch with patience and determination, sending Perez across the line one more time to win the match 17-12.