Dartmouth Beats Shippensburg 75-5 to Move onto National Quarterfinals

Playing in front of one of its largest home crowds of the season, Dartmouth Rugby cruised past Shippensburg 75-5 on Saturday in the their Round of 16 match in the
2012 Emirates Airline USA Rugby Men’s Division I-AA National Championship. With the win The Big Green advance to today’s quarterfinal against Stony Brook, which will be played at 3 p.m., once again at the Corey Ford Rugby Clubhouse in Hanover.

While everyone with the team has put in a tremendous amount of effort this week to be good hosts to the 7 other teams in Hanover for the Division I-AA and Division II championships, the Dartmouth first XV showed little hospitality to their opponents from Pennsylvania once the match started. Wing Kevin Clark ’14 opened the scoring, making a nifty run and going in for a try. Fullback Madison Hughes ’15 made the following conversation, bringing the score to 7-0 and giving The Big Green a lead they wouldn’t relinquish for the remainder of the game. Hughes would shortly thereafter knock through a penalty to make the score 10-0. That score would be followed by a try from captain and No. 8 Paul Jarvis and another Hughes penalty kick, putting the Raiders in a 18-0 hole before the game’s first 15 minutes had elapsed. While Shippensburg would strike back a few minutes later, scoring a try to make it 18-5, their comeback was ultimately unsuccessful.

Clark would score another try, followed by another Hughes conversion, to lengthen the lead to 25-5 and the rout picked back up in earnest. Tries from the two starting locks– Dylan Jones ’14 and Nate Brakeley ‘12– would make the score 37-5 before Hughes jetted in for another score on the last play of the half. The subsequent conversion, again by Hughes, gave The Big Green a 44- 5 lead heading into halftime, all but guaranteeing the victory.

Dartmouth keep racking up the points in the 2nd half, with Clark getting two more tries to bring his total to four on the day. In addition, prop Lawrence Anfo-Whyte ’13, center Bill Lehmann ’12, and wing Justin Ciambella ’13 made visits to try zone. Taken together with the ensuing conversions from Hughes and flyhalf Owen Scannell ’13, their efforts brought the score to 75-5 at the final whistle.

The team won’t have much time to rest, as they have to make a quick turnaround for today’s quarterfinal match. They’ll be facing off against the Stony Brook Seawolves, who held on for a close 24-22 win against Northeastern in an absolutely thrilling match. The teams will kick off at 3 p.m. at the Corey Ford Rugby Clubhouse in what will be the final match of the day at the facility. In total, four matches will be held on the day as part of Dartmouth hosting the east regional of the 2012 Emirates Airline USA Rugby Men’s Division I-AA and Division II Championship. The first match will start at 9 a.m. and action will continue throughout the day leading up to Dartmouth vs. Stony Brook (A complete schedule for the day can be found at the bottom of this press release). Admittance to all matches on the day will be free to the public, while food and merchandise will be available for purchase at the clubhouse. Those who want to watch but can’t make it out to the field can do so by checking out the live stream available on DartmouthSports.com throughout the day.

With their victory over Princeton on Ivy Wildcard weekend, Dartmouth then turned its attention to the national playoffs.  Games will kicked off at 9 am on both days and feature four games between the two divisions.  The Big Green took the field for their game versus Shippensburg at 1 pm on Saturday, April 28th.

All games were played at the Corey Ford Rugby Clubhouse, located at 9 River Road in Hanover, 1.8 miles north of the Hanover Inn, just off of Lyme Road. Admission was free to the public.  If The Big Green can get through the weekend without a loss, they’ll advance to the final four May 18-19th in Rio Tinto stadium in Sandy, UT.

Emirates Airline USA Rugby Men’s DI-AA & DII College Round of 16

Saturday April 28 | Brophy Field
Colgate v. Bentley | DII Men’s College Playoff | 9 a.m. Eastern
Boston University v. Towson| DII Men’s College Playoff | 11 a.m. Eastern
Dartmouth v. Shippensburg | DI-AA Men’s College Playoff | 1 p.m. Eastern
Northeastern v. Stony Brook | DI-AA Men’s College Playoff | 3 p.m. Eastern

Emirates Airline USA Rugby Men’s DI-AA & DII College Round of Eight

Sunday April 29 | Brophy Field
DII Men’s College Consolation (losers from day one) | 9 a.m. Eastern
DII Men’s College National Quarterfinal (winners from day one) | 11 a.m. Eastern
DI-AA Men’s College Consolation (losers from day one) | 1 p.m. Eastern
DI-AA Men’s College National Quarterfinal (winners from day one) | 3 p.m. Eastern

* photo by Erin Becks