First the women's rugby football club played host at the Ivy League Championships. Then the team played spoiler.
Ranked fifth heading into the Ancient Eight tournament, the women ruggers defeated three teams in two days to take the championship, dispatching Yale in the final, 14-0. Next weekend, the Bears head to Pennsylvania State University for the national tournament and a first round match against the United States Naval Academy.
"It gives us a lot of confidence," said Head Coach Kerrisa Heffernan. "We handled the other teams so well, and we feel there's a lot of momentum going into this game."
The tournament, sponsored by Brown and played in Portsmouth, was a milestone for Ivy League women's rugby. In the Brown program's 30th Anniversary season of competition, this year's tournament marked the first time that all eight teams participated. Usually the University of Pennsylvania does not participate, but the Quakers were in town this weekend.
"I'm not sure what changed," said Team President Ariel Thompson '07. "But we're glad they came."
Bruno faced Princeton first on Saturday in what turned out to be its closest match of the tournament, with a final score of 14-7.
Inside-center Frances Male '09 scored Brown's first try, and fly-half Whitney Brown '08 scored the second. Fullback Katie Glerum '10 made both two-point kicks. Yale scored its only try on what Heffernan termed a "freak" 60-yard play.
"We were in their end for the vast majority of the game and came within scoring about six or eight times about two to six feet from the try-line," said forward and captain Jen Hustwitt '07. "We should have scored at least six more tries in that game because of how we were positioned."
In the semifinal against Radcliffe on Saturday, the wind proved to be both the Bears' worst enemy and best friend. The Bears struggled against the stiff breeze in the first half. According to Heffernan, they sometimes had to watch their opponents' kicks soar 50 yards over their heads. Aided by the elements, Radcliffe's defense held Brown to a 7-0 lead after one half of play.
In the second half, the wind blew at the Bears' backs and they used the advantage to score 35 points in the second frame behind the strong running of Emilie Bydwell '08. "Bydwell scored pretty much at will," Heffernan ?said.
"We were able to hold it together and not crack until we got into our flow," Hustwitt said. "When you have all 15 players on the field in sync, that's when rugby feels the best, and we achieved that in the Radcliffe game. And (Radcliffe) just crumbled."
After the victory, the Bears were guaranteed a spot in Sunday morning's 10 a.m. final and still had time to watch Yale's come-from-behind, semi-final victory over Dartmouth. "We definitely knew what to expect from them," Hustwitt said.
Saturday's bright weather turned sour on Sunday as a Nor'easter closed in. The whole championship game was played in freezing rain and on a churned, muddy pitch. "It was pretty miserable," Heffernan said. "It is New England."
Brown drew first blood when Male faked out Yale's defense with a dummy-pass and ran the ball 10 yards for a score, touching it down right between the posts. Glerum's kick put Brown up 7-0.
The game was well within reach for Yale before an unlikely hero carried the day for Brown. Thompson - playing hooker - broke through a gap in Yale's front line and sprinted past the opposing backs. An approximately 60-yard chase ensued with every Bulldog chasing Thompson. Yale's defense caught up with Thompson at the try line, but she was able to stretch the ball across the line and put Brown up 14-0. The tally was the game's final score.
"I used to run track, so I am pretty fast," she said. "I wasn't really looking at where the defenders were. I was just trying to see the open space in front of me and look for the try line, and all I saw ahead of me was the try line. I wasn't looking for anything else."
Lock Kira Manser '07 started crying at the sight of the team president's long run, according to Heffernan. "(Thompson) works very hard, and it's really rare for her to score a try," she said. "After that, we pushed Yale around."
In addition to the Ivy League Championship - Brown's second in four years - five Bears were named to the All-Ivy team: Hustwitt, Bydwell, Thompson, scrum-half Yadi Ibarra '09 and eight-man Alex Hartley '10.
The Bears had earned a berth in the national tournament prior to this weekend's tournament because they placed second in the New England Rugby Football Union this fall. There will be 16 teams at the tournament, meaning Brown is only two wins away from qualifying for the final four at Stanford University.
But first, Brown will board a bus at 7 a.m. Friday morning and head to Penn State, where it will face Navy. "It's a tough draw for us, but it's a tough match-up for them," Heffernan said.
This will be Brown's second trip to the national tournament and likewise the second trip for seniors like Hustwitt, who made it to nationals as freshmen.
"It feels really rewarding," Hustwitt said. "We've been working to build this team up again for the last three years, and the fact that we might even surpass how that team (three years ago) did at nationals next weekend is pretty exciting."
