Women's Rugby Takes Second at Crimson 7's Tournament

After playing their first two sevens tournaments of the spring season, the Harvard women’s rugby team has made two things abundantly clear: the team’s underclassmen are strong, and the Crimson’s defense does not give up many points.

At its second tournament of the spring, Harvard took second at the eight team Crimson 7’s tournament. Other teams at the tournament included Navy A, Navy B, Endicott, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, UNH, and West Chester. The tournament, played in Cambridge, was the second annual Crimson 7’s tournament. Last year, the Crimson split squads and took home second and seventh place.

“I thought we played really well,” sophomore Dalton Youngblood said.”It was exciting because you can definitely see the improvement that we’ve had from last year to this year and how much better we communicate. We’re a lot faster, we’re just a lot more natural about it.”

QUINNIPIAC 48, HARVARD 0

After allowing only four tries through four matchups, Harvard finally met some opposition against Quinnipiac in the championship game. Through four games in the tournament, the Bobcats also only allowed four tries before playing the Crimson in the final.

Quinnipiac, the National Collegiate Varsity Women’s Rugby Association (NCVWRA) 15’s Champions of the fall, appeared to be just as strong in 7’s play, ending the half up 26-0 en route to the Crimson 7s title with a 48-0 win over Harvard.

HARVARD 33, WEST CHESTER 10

For the first time in this tournament, Harvard’s opening try was answered with one from West Chester in the Semifinal game. After Harvard jumped to a 5-0 lead early in the first half, the Golden Rams answered with a try of their own to tie the game.

Despite the early try from West Chester, the Crimson scored back-to-back tries to go into half up 19-5. Youngblood and junior Claire Collins each added a second half try to go up 33-5 before West Chester scored in the final minutes. Youngblood ended the day with a team-high five tries.HARVARD 22, UNH 5

Underclassman play was a significant factor in Harvard’s final pool play game against New Hampshire as well. Youngblood opened scoring in the match with a pair of tries late in the first half to put the Crimson up 12-0. She was joined in the in-goal area by Chao and sophomore Haley Langan.

“Because...we’re a new varsity sport, we’re able to have recruits,” Youngblood said. “I think by having that opportunity to look at people and have them come in freshman year as...someone who’s already been playing in high school, I think that definitely helps improve our skill level overall.”

The defense held strong yet again, not letting up a try until the closing minutes. The Crimson jumped out to a 22-0 lead before giving up a try to the Wildcats. Out of the six halves played by the Crimson in their pool, four ended with Harvard shutting out their opponent.

HARVARD 35, NAVY A 5

Youngblood proved to be a dominant sevens player at the Frostbite 7’s tournament a few weeks ago, and she continued her impressive play this weekend. She opened the second half with back-to-back tries, putting the team’s lead at 29-0 before Navy finally scored. Alongside Youngblood were freshmen Caitlin Weigel and Grace Chao who accounted for the Crimson’s three other tries.

“We have a very talented group of underclassmen,” sophomore co-captain Isabel Delaura said, “but they also work tremendously hard. Everyone works tremendously hard on the team. We really have an environment in which the upperclassmen and the underclassmen are constantly pushing each other.”

Harvard’s defense was strong in their second game as well, letting up their first try of the tournament in the second half of the matchup

HARVARD 30, ENDICOTT 0

At the Frostbite 7’s tournament earlier this month, Harvard proved to be a defensive force, shutting out four of their six opponents on the day. This defense was was on display in the first game of the day against Endicott as the Crimson blanked the Gulls 30-0. On the day, Harvard only let up a total of four tries before being blown out by fall champions Quinnipiac in the final.

“We spent this week working on defense,” l Delaura said. “We did a lot of tackling drills and work on building our wall…. I think our defense framework is something we’ve been focusing on a lot, and it really showed in this tournament.”

—Staff writer Wade G. Player can be reached at wplayer@college.harvard.edu.