Women's Rugby Trounces Princeton

Coming off a big win two weeks ago against Brown, the Harvard women’s rugby team (3-2, 3-1 Ivy) looked to continue its late season charge and secure an automatic berth into the Ivy League Championships with a victory this weekend. The pressure was on for the Crimson to perform in its final regular season contest against Princeton, a perennial rugby threat.

“We knew after an extremely inspired performance against Brown [that] this was a real test for us to see if we could carry that intensity over and bring it to two games in a row,” Harvard coach Sue Parker said.

With its post-season on the line, Harvard delivered a dominating performance, blanking the Tigers in a 36-0 victory.

“It was such a great team effort today,” co-captain Xanni Brown said. “It was so good to see everyone come out with a high effort—with that same level of intensity—and step up their awareness on the field. It was amazing. These guys blew it out of the water.”

Despite a relatively slow start in the first few minutes, the Crimson quickly picked up steam, consistently putting the pressure back on Princeton.

“Even with some dips in our intensity in the first half, we were able to pull it together in the second half and step on their throats,” Parker said. “I’m extremely proud of them. It was a huge team effort.”

Junior Aniebiet Abasi got Harvard on the board 15 minutes into the contest. After being fed a pass by Brown, Abasi sprinted past the Tigers’ defense to register the Crimson’s first try of the afternoon. Brown’s conversion kick split the posts, putting Harvard up 7-0.

The Crimson defense came up with an important stop less than ten minutes later to retain the lead. With Princeton just yards away from the try zone and knocking at the door, Harvard successfully fended off the Tigers’ charge. With Harvard back in possession, Brown registered another try and conversion with seven minutes left, giving the Crimson a 14-0 lead at the half.

Harvard came out firing in the second half of the contest. The Crimson added to its lead less than ten minutes later when senior Cayla Calderwood ran in another try. Brown’s conversion pushed Harvard’s lead to 21-0. Brown added two more tries and fellow co-captain Ali Haber notched another to round out the Crimson’s scoring in the 36-0 routing.

Harvard’s success was in a large part due to the strong performance of its forward line. The trio of Meghan Laughner, Ariel Churchill, and Helen Clark were a key part of the Crimson’s offensive attack, undaunted by the task of facing the Princeton’s huge front row.

“The forwards dominated today,” Brown said. “Princeton always brings a big team and a big pack, and our forwards came in and just knocked them out of the way on contact on everything.”

With the win in its final regular season contest, Harvard earned an automatic bid into the Ivy League Championships and avoided a play-in match against Cornell next weekend. The win further boosted the Crimson’s confidence as it heads into post-season play.

“We needed to prove to ourselves that the game against Brown was not a fluke,” Parker said. “I think they did that in spades. And they brought so much more tactical awareness to this game. It showed in our ability to dominate possession. We dominated territory, and we put up a fair number of points.”

The team is trending towards peak form as it eyes the Ivy League Championships in less than two weeks.

“I think that first Ivy League contest against Dartmouth where we came out really flat, it just became apparent that this was not going to cut it in this Ivy League,” Brown said. “We looked around and this team said, ‘That’s fine, let’s step it up.’ And we did. Since then, this team has been on the rise. I cannot express how excited I am.”

With a No. 2 seeding in the conference championship, Harvard looks to cap its inaugural season as a varsity program with an Ancient Eight title.

“We’ve got a rematch against Brown in the first round and then we’ve got Dartmouth,” Brown said. “This team is so excited to see Dartmouth again. They’re not going to see the same team they saw a few weeks ago and they will not know what hit them. We can’t wait for Ivy’s."

—Staff writer Brenna R. Nelsen can be reached at brenna.nelsen@thecrimson.com.