This weekend the men's and women's rugby teams will host the Ivy League Rugby Tournament at Glen Farm in Portsmouth. The tournament will feature the eight Ivy League teams at the same venue for the first time this season. Competition for both teams will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday morning, with the men's team facing Yale and the women taking on Princeton.
Coming off a 51-0 win last weekend against Connecticut College, the men's team will look to continue its success against more difficult competition this week. The women's team, ranked in the top 10 nationally after its strong showing last fall, has thoughts of winning the whole tournament. It is the women's side's last tournament before nationals, which features the top 16 teams in the country.
For the men's squad, their biggest rival of the weekend will be Yale. Tough match-ups might also come from Harvard and Dartmouth.
"We are aiming for the big prize, especially on our home turf," said Tom Flaherty '08. "Our goal is to win and put our heart and soul into it and beat Yale in our first match."
The Bears need strong contributions from Captain Rob Neville '08, inside center Jeff Margulies '07, wing Jon-Michael DaVirro '07, outside center Hugh Livengood '07 and hooker Simon Salgado '07. The team has had a relatively healthy spring, avoiding the significant injuries that have hampered the team in the past, so the full squad will be in action this weekend.
"The Ivy League tournament is what we train for all spring," Margulies said. "This is a particularly important opportunity for us to earn some respect from the other Ivy League teams."
Head Coach Jay Fluck '65 founded the tournament in the early 1980s and is excited to see it return to Rhode Island this spring. He will be stepping down as coach for the weekend in order to administer the tournament. Brown is seeded fifth in this weekend's tournament and would face the winner of the Dartmouth-Columbia game should it advance past Yale.
On the other side of the coin, the women's team will treat the invitational as a tune-up for nationals the following weekend.
"We should win (this weekend)," said Head Coach Kerrie Heffernan. "We are clearly the favorite. We were ranked fifth in the country, but we have slipped a bit because we are at a disadvantage in the early spring due to the (inclement) weather in the Northeast."
Bruno will look to its two captains for leadership this weekend. Jen Hustwitt '07, a forward flanker and member of the U.S. Under-23 National Team, will lead the offense. The backs will run behind co-captain Emilie Bydwell '08, who also plays for Atlantis, a development program that feeds into the national team.
"This weekend we will be looking for strong efforts from everyone," Hustwitt said. "We have something to prove to ourselves and (want) to live up to our talent. We need to prove that the struggles this season are making us a better team."
The women's team is also the fifth seed in the tournament, and it will open up with a 10 a.m. match against Princeton on Saturday. The winner will advance to face the victor of the Harvard-University of Pennsylvania match in the semifinals.
In addition to participating in the games this weekend, the women's team will screen their documentary film for the other women's teams on Saturday night. The film examines women's rugby in Uganda through the experiences of teams the Bears played while traveling through the country.
This weekend, both of the University's rugby teams are looking forward to hosting the Ivy tournament in what will be the squads' seniors' last local competition. Though Brown is unable to provide transportation for spectators, directions to the fields are posted on brownrugby.com and fans are encouraged to attend and support the culmination of the home rugby season.
"I think we really stand a chance to do well this year," Margulies said. "We are proud of all our hard work and we would love to see it come to fruition on the pitch this weekend. We appreciate the support of the Brown community and we hope to see them out at the tournament this weekend."
