Princeton Women at Dartmouth Women

HANOVER, N.H. – The Dartmouth women’s rugby team defeated Princeton, 44-5, Saturday morning in the semifinal of the Ivy Rugby Conference Championship at Brophy Field.

The Big Green (6-1) advanced to Sunday’s championship game at 1:30 p.m. where they will play Brown who beat Harvard, 27-17. Dartmouth took the regular season meeting, 8-5, between the two back in early October.

“We played the most exciting rugby we've played all season today and are exactly where we want to be headed into the final,” head coach Katie Dowty said. “We're playing off each other, moving the ball well at pace, attacking spaces and, as always, taking great pride in our defense.

“The depth of our squad and commitment from every player on the team has allowed us to get invaluable playing experience at practice that is really starting to pay off,” Dowty added. “Today was a team win through and through.

The home team dominated play and cycled in the entire line of subs after going into halftime with a 39-0 lead.

The usual suspects found their way on to the box score, with incredible runs by senior co-captain and All-American Yejadai Dunn and sophomore lock Ashley Zepeda. Dunn, taking advantage of a recurring short kickoff, ran back a try just seconds after the ball was put into play by Princeton’s All-American Jessica Lu. The Tigers didn’t attempt an onside kick again.

Rookie Kiera Pyke saw her first start at loose head prop, setting into the front row for all of the scrums which drove over the Princeton pack.

Senior tight head Sky Roehl stole a hook in the green zone which was momentarily converted to a try by Dunn again.

The only try scored by Princeton was off of a lineout turned maul in Dartmouth’s red zone. The Tigers attempted to maul in a second try, but the ball was held up by fellow senior co-captain Tatjana Toeldte. Standout rookie Camille Johnson, who started in the centers on Saturday morning, drove back the only other serious threat to Dartmouth’s red zone, almost singlehandedly executing a try line stand by driving back the opponents ten meters on the hit.

The Big Green were matched against Princeton after going 5-0 in regular season Ivy play, making them the top seed.

Brown, who narrowly beat third-place Harvard, 27-17, were forced to keep most of their starters on the field after a tight and physical match.

Story filed to Dartmouth Varsity Athletics Communications by Gayne Kalustian ’17