Women's Rugby Drops Contest to Navy, 10-5

In the Harvard women’s rugby team’s final tuneup before the Ivy League Championships, the Crimson suffered a 10-5 loss in a defensive affair against Navy.

Although Harvard (3-3, 3-2 Ivy) rallied from behind to halve the Midshipmen’s (2-5) lead late in the second half, the Crimson could not score the equalizer before the whistle blew.

“Navy came out really hard,” co-captain Brooke Kantor said. “They definitely wanted to win. We were able to match their aggressiveness in the second half, but didn’t match it in the first half, which is where we fell short.”

Midway through the first period, the Midshipmen put together a drive to score the first try of the game and take an early 5-0 lead. Harvard failed to convert several scoring opportunities, and the Crimson entered halftime trailing by a try.

Pre-match rainy conditions slowed the pace of the game and made it difficult for either side to use its speed to generate offense.

“One of our weapons is our speed, so when it’s a real muddy field like that, it’s tougher for us because we can’t run quite as fast,” Harvard coach Sue Parker said. “Also, because our forwards tend to be physically smaller than opposing forwards, it makes it even more difficult in the scrum to get good footing...and leverage strength against the larger players.”

The Crimson came out with energy in the second half. Harvard gained possession and brought the ball deep into the Midshipmen’s zone. But despite the field position, the Crimson could not get the ball across the try-line and remained scoreless.

Within 10 minutes, Navy broke Harvard’s defensive line and scored its second try of the game to gain the 10-0 advantage.

Parker led the Midshipmen from 2002 to 2008 and 2011 to 2013, leading Navy to the Final Four of the 2013 National Championships just months before taking over at the helm of the Crimson.

“[Navy] played exactly how I expected them to play, which was putting everything on the line, fighting tooth and nail for every ball in every possible situation, and showing absolutely no mercy for us on the field,” Parker said. “So I was happy for them that they are continuing to play in that fashion, and I think it was exactly the kind of opponent I wanted us to face today in our final tuneup for the Ivy League Championship.”

Harvard continued to threaten the Midshipmen despite a 10-point deficit. After Crimson junior co-captain Hope Schwartz scored a try to pull Harvard within five, the team maintained its offensive pressure on Navy in the closing minutes of the game.

Although Harvard brought the ball within yards of the try-zone in its final drive of the contest, the team could not push the ball across the line and eventually fell, 10-5.

“We need much more aggressiveness at the point of contact,” Kantor said. “It’s about wanting the ball and wanting to win more than the other team.”

The Crimson will need to bring this mentality to Hanover, N.H. next weekend for the Ivy League Championships. Harvard looks to improve its fourth-place regular season standing in an effort to defend its 2013 Ivy title. The team faces an uphill battle, as its opening semifinal game is against an undefeated Brown squad. The Bears have outscored opponents, 345-58, this year, and beat the Crimson, 24-15, in the season’s Ivy opener.

In last year’s Ivy Championships, Harvard defeated Brown in the semifinal and then spoiled Dartmouth’s undefeated season to win the title. This year, the Crimson will look to repeat what it accomplished last year by ending the Bears’ perfect season to advance to the championship game against the Big Green or Princeton.

“This week we are coming to practice with the mentality—with the focus—that we are going to come to Ivies as a contender to be reckoned with,” Kantor said. “No one is going to take that championship away from us easily. They are going to have to earn it.”

—Staff writer Eileen Storey can be reached at eileen.storey@thecrimson.com.