Brown defeats Harvard in first varsity contest

The Brown women's rugby team defeated Harvard on the road in their first-ever ivy league match as a varsity squad.  

The newly-christened varsity Bears fought a tough Harvard side to a come-from-behind 24-15 victory. Tries were scored by Capt. Oksana Goretaya ’17, Kiki Morgan ’16 (2) and Amber Reano ’16 with conversions from Sofie Rudin ’17.  

"We were very excited to win," Brown women's rugby head coach Kathy Flores said. "While I won't say it was completely unexpected, last year we lost both of our contests with Harvard so we knew it would be a tight match.

"It's always a great way to begin your season with a win, especially in the inaugural Ivy varsity match. Our varsity experience has further solidified the commitment of our players and the challenge now will be in our consistency."

In April of this year, Brown announced it would elevate its women’s rugby team from club level to full varsity status for the 2014-15 academic year. Women’s rugby is the University’s 21st women’s varsity team. 

Brown joins Harvard as the second Ivy League institution to offer women’s rugby at the intercollegiate varsity level.