The Brown women’s rugby team (8-0) stood tall and emerged victorious at Ivy Championships hosted by Dartmouth (3-4, 3-2 Ivy) in Hanover, New Hampshire this weekend. The Bears began their campaign with a comfortable victory over Harvard (4-4, 3-3) and confirmed their champion status with a triumph against host Dartmouth.
Brown 27, Harvard 5
Saskia Morgan ’16 led the way for Bruno, recording three scores, with Jasmine McAdams ’16 and Natalie Klotz ’15 each adding one. The Bears raced out to a resounding 27-0 lead and never looked back. Harvard managed to obtain one try, but it was too little, too late for the Crimson as the game was all but over.
The victory was the team’s second over Harvard this season after eking out a narrow 24-15 victory in the first game of the season. But this time, Harvard was never really in the game as the Bears took and maintained an early lead.
Brown 42, Dartmouth 5
It was more of the same on day two of the Ivy Championships. Bruno began the game with 37 unanswered points, which proved to be an insurmountable total for the opposition. The agile Morgan, a key figure for this relentless squad, led the way for the team once again, recording four scores. Amber Reano ’16 and Daisy Alvarado-Munoz ’17 also scored in this dominant team performance by the Bears.
“Our scrums were incredibly strong,” said Joanna Chatham ’17. “We won nearly all the scrums which is really demoralizing and tough for the other team.”
The theme of the tournament seemed to be getting out of the gates faster than the opponent — Brown did not trail in either game. In fact, by the time the opponent, whether it was Harvard or Dartmouth, mustered up any points, its deficit was already overwhelmingly large.
“We were able to work as a team to unleash one of our fastest runners, Kiki Morgan,” said co-captain Oksana Goretaya ’17. “We had strong defensive play that was above the competition.”
The squad, which has yet to suffer a defeat in its inaugural season as a varsity sport, looks ahead to ACRA Regional Championships in two weeks.
“Moving forward to ACRAs we still have lots to work on, but we’re getting better every game,” said co-captain Tiara Mack ’16.
If successful at the regional championships, the team will advance to compete in the ACRA Final Four, held in Florida in December.
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