Dartmouth Takes Shield Bracket at Armory Collegiate 7s

While the Dartmouth men’s first XV was taking care of business in Hanover, NH, defeating Penn 38-0 at the Ivy XVs semi-finals, The Big Green also sent a sevens team to Springfield, Massachusetts to compete along with fifteen other schools in the 2014 Armory Collegiate 7s Tournament. After a tough start losing three pool-play matches, the sevens squad rebounded to defeat the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and Westfield State in the pouring rain, winning the Shield bracket in the process. 

The twelve DRFC teammates who traveled south for the day battled against top teams from other schools throughout the Northeast. The long day began with a morning match against a strong New England College squad, which ended with freshman Dan Lafranier powering his way through three New England College players with no time remaining to avoid the shutout. The final score of this one lopsided match of the day was 41-5.  

The boys next returned to the pitch to battle the University of Connecticut, losing 22-14 in a hard-fought contest that was tight throughout. In the final pool-play game, Middlebury College prevailed 31-7, with the DRFC's points coming on a beautiful 70 meter run from Mick Wopinski after taking an offload and flying down the sideline. In a testament to the strength of Dartmouth's preliminary pool, New England College eventually advanced to the Cup final, losing to tournament champion and host, American International College.  Meanwhile, Middlebury College prevailed in the Plate Final over SUNY Albany.        
 
As afternoon turned to evening, the squad took the field against the Massachusetts Maritime Academy for the shield semi-finals. Max Parker '17 and Clay Robbins '14, former high school football teammates at the Menlo School in California, both showed great speed on the wing as they each scored on long solo efforts. This was Clay's first rugby match after a four year career on the football team, and his contribution helped gain the first victory of the day. Andy Suslavich also contributed an important conversion on the way to a 12-7 victory. Several hours later, under the lights in the pouring rain, the DRFC took the field one last time, defeating Westfield State to win the Shield bracket. In this final match, Max Parker was again electrifying as he put the Green on top to stay as the boys walked away with a 12-5 victory and some hardware.

Assistant Coach Chris McCarthy summed up the day in Springfield, commenting: “I am very pleased with the effort. The boys got better throughout the day, despite the worsening weather conditions.”

The Team at Armory Collegiate 7s

Cronin, Levine, Walmsley, Parker, Wopinski, Aldredge, Lafranier, Robbins, Jennis, Suslavich, Zhu, Breuer