109 Points Punctuate Women Rugby’s Record Victory Over Yale

With about 12 minutes left in the first half, Harvard sophomore Maya Learned made a break to the right of a scrum the Crimson had just won. She broke through two Yale defenders and beat another three to extend the hosts’ lead to 44.

Fifty-two minutes and 65 points later, Harvard (2-0, 1-0 Ivy) left Cumnock Field on Saturday with a dominant 109-5 win in its Ivy opener and a program single-game team point record in tow.

Harvard set the pace early with three tries within the first five minutes of the match and continued to apply pressure throughout. After building up 10 tries and a 56-0 lead in the first half, the hosts added another nine tries in the second half to break the previous team scoring mark of 105.

The Crimson’s youth carried the day. Freshmen Caitlin Wiegel and Sarah Lipson recorded a game-high three tries apiece. Harvard also scored off of three downfield kicks from freshman Susie Clements, who finished the day with a try and seven conversions for 19 points.

“I think this game allowed our younger players to settle in a little bit,” Harvard coach Sue Parker said. “Today was a great opportunity for them to really get in sync with each other.”

In all, 14 Harvard players recorded points. The Crimson’s final try, scored by sophomore Haley Langan, passed the former team points mark, set in Harvard’s inaugural varsity season against Boston College on March 29, 2014.

Despite losing nine of 15 scrums, Harvard forced Bulldog turnovers and controlled possession in commanding fashion. The Crimson won all four line outs during the match.

The Bulldogs scored their only try of the game with 10 minutes remaining. Sunday marked the first time Yale has scored against a varsity Harvard team. Yale remains a club team.

“[The game] was exciting because we really didn’t know what to expect from Yale,” Clements said. “We wanted to just come out with a lot of intensity, and it was just really satisfying because I think we executed quite well a lot of times.”

For Harvard, the game was about more than pure offense, as the team made crucial tackles to prevent the Bulldogs from scoring throughout most of the game.

With the score at 87-0 in the second half and Yale threatening at the line, the Crimson held off the Bulldogs for a full five minutes, forcing three scrums before finally kicking the ball back and later scoring off a scrum.

“For us, that was one of the two really big tests of our defense in the game, and it was really helpful for us to get some of those defensive line stands,” said co-captain Hope Schwartz, a former Crimson sports editor. “In the first one when we did shut them down, I think we were just really disciplined about staying in front of the ball. We were really disciplined about getting low on our tackles and making positive tackles.”

—Staff writer Troy Boccelli can be reached at tboccelli@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Michael D. Ledecky can be reached at michael.ledecky@thecrimson.com.