Crimson Ruggers Add Ivy Title to List

You can call 'em the New England champions.

Or you can call 'em the Northeastern champions.

And now you can call 'em the lvy League champions.

The Harvard men's rugby team added its third lvy championship in four year to its long list of 1983-84 accomplishments with an 11-3 victory over Dartmouth in the finals of the weekend lvy championships in providence. R.I.

The title win avenged a 7-0 loss to the Big Green in the first round of the championships. Which used a double elimination format to determine the winner.

The special format allowed the Crimson to remain alive and then reel off four Straight victories to garner yet another title.

The team that had already won the New England and Northeastern titles this year will now turn its attention to the national championships. Which begin with the Eastern Final Four next weekend in Philadelphia. The Crimson ruggers will square off against the University of Maryland in that tourney's first semifinal. While Virginia Tech and Florida State meet in the second semifinal. The winner of the Easterns will face the Western champion later this month for the national title.

But all that was on the Crimson's mind this past weekend was the lvy title. Or at least it was after Dartmouth shocked the ruggers in the tourney's opening-round.

"We went into that [first] game overconfident." Charlie Weeks said last night explaining that the Crimson was still revelling in the Northeast Regional title it had won the weekend before.

"But [the loss] might have been a blessing in disguise," Weeks added.

With its concentration back and its play visibly improved. Harvard put the Dartmouth loss behind and easily disposed of penn. 10-0 and Columbia 32-3 on Saturday.

In yesterday's semifinal. Harvard earned some revenge with a 22-4 triumph over Brown the team that last year took the lvy title out of Cambridge.

But the weekend's biggest revenge came in the tourney final and Harvard's victory there over Dartmouth.

George Askew paced the Crimson in yesterday's action providing three tries against Brown and then another in the finals against Dartmouth.