Rugby, Dartmouth Vie for Ancient Eight Title

For the third consecutive time, the stage is set.

Harvard (5-1 NIRA) is set to face off against powerhouse Dartmouth (6-0) on Saturday in Hanover, N.H., for the Ivy League championship.

Last year's Ivy League championship saw a low scoring contest between the two schools, as the Big Green came out on top to win the Ancient Eight crown, scoring 22 points to top Harvard’s eight.

This year, the Crimson is looking to extend its three-game win streak after a commanding October. Harvard dominated its previous three games, defeating Quinnipiac (2-4), Notre Dame College (Ohio) (1-3), and Brown (2-3), with each game’s margin of victory being greater than the match prior. Its most recent game, a matchup against the Bears on senior day, ended in a 76-7 victory. Seniors Caitlin Weigl and Jenny Kronish capped off their final regular season tied for the most tries on the team with six. Junior Delia Hellander found the try zone three times, marking the Crimson’s first hat trick of the season. The dominant victory concluded a regular season in which Harvard was undefeated at home.

However, Saturday’s game will be in New Hampshire, where the Crimson struggled in September, suffering its only loss of the year.

The first contest between Harvard and the Dartmouth began evenly, with neither team putting a single point on the board in the first twelve minutes of the tilt.

The floodgates opened, however, as senior Alex Stendhal added a try for Dartmouth. The Big Green would continue to add to the scoreboard, notching 31 points to end the first half. The Crimson added three points of its own prior to the halftime whistle.

The second stanza followed a similar pattern. Dartmouth piled on another 24 points and Harvard struggled to respond to the Big Green’s scoring. The Crimson added another 10 points to its total, marking a total of 13—the most points that the team had put up against Dartmouth since 2016.

The loss, however, did not leave a lasting mark on Harvard’s morale.

“We knew that we would have to shake the game off and take away the tactical things, but not dwell on the results” senior Jenny Kronish said. “These last three weeks we really focused on us and not who we were playing against.”

Harvard has confidence going into this weekend’s game, especially after outings in which the squad bested Notre Dame (Ohio) by 31 and Brown by 69.

This year’s Dartmouth team, however, is undefeated. The Big Green is letting up an average of 14 points per contest. The division leader is looking to maintain its historic hegemony over the conference. The talented squad, containing two members who are representing the U.S. on the national team, has handled most of its competition with ease. However, in its most recent game, Dartmouth escaped with a six point victory over Army West Point, the same team that Harvard defeated by 11.

The Crimson is looking for its first Ivy League championship since the 2014-2015 season, as the title is being defended for the fourth consecutive year by the Big Green. However, Harvard is coming into this game with a different mindset than its previous matchups against Dartmouth.

“This time we're going into it thinking we have nothing to lose” junior Delia Hellander said. “We’re going to go into it playing our game rather than crumbling under the pressure.”