Dartmouth Readies to Take on Davenport in National Semifinals

Playing in its final four since 1988, Dartmouth Rugby will look to take another step towards a national title tonight when they take on Davenport University in the semifinals of the 2012 Emirates Airline USA Rugby Men’s Division I-AA College National Championship. The match, which features the top two teams in the division according to Rugbymag.com’s rankings, will kick off at 7 p.m. EST in Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, UT, home of Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake. Those who want to support the Big Green but can’t make it to Utah will still have a chance to watch, as a webcast of the game will be available at http://www.ksl.com/?sid=20401629&nid=1154.

Coming in as the number one ranked team in the country, the Panthers will certainly offer Dartmouth its toughest challenge of the season so far. But in talking about the match, captain and No. 8 Paul Jarvis ’12 said that despite the quality of their opponents he liked his team’s chances heading into Friday. “All the boys are feeling very confident going into the match. We know that Davenport will likely provide the toughest challenge we’ve faced thus far and everyone is very excited. The team has grown tremendously over the course of the spring season and we are looking forward to playing a complete game versus Davenport.”

Dartmouth v. Davenport, full match details »
 
If the team wins against Davenport, they’ll advance to the next day’s national final, where they’ll play either San Diego State or Tennessee. That match would kick off at 6:30 p.m. and again be simulcast over the web at http://www.ksl.com/?sid=20401629&nid=1154.