ugby’s Tiahna Padilla spent four years at Harvard raising national championship trophies, dominating the Ivy League, and delivering mammoth defeats. Entering her senior 7s season, Padilla had amassed 37 tries and 76 assists and had captained the team during the 15s season. Despite all of her success on the Mignone Field, she did not always dream of putting on the Crimson jersey.

“I pretty much always grew up from sixth grade onwards wanting to go to Dartmouth,” Padilla admitted.

It feels treacherous to say aloud. The rivalry between Harvard and Dartmouth is historic. During Padilla’s time in Cambridge, the two Ancient Eight foes met in the 15s National Championship game in each of her first three years and in the semifinal this year. Over her career, Padilla compiled a 33-4 record in 15s play. The Big Green accounted for three of those four losses, but she still boasts a winning career record against Dartmouth at 5-3.

Padilla cited her previous dream of donning Green to a hometown hero: Lily Durbin, a member of Dartmouth’s 2018 15s national championship team. Their hometown, Fallbrook, Calif., is a hub for women’s rugby in America, with the local team producing eight USA Eagles, including two Olympians, such as 2024 bronze medalist Kayla Canett. Durbin was one of the standouts in Fallbrook, and she and a few teammates forged an established path from the small town in southern California to Hanover, N.H.

Padilla describes her choice to take her talents to Cambridge as a “big decision.”

“I came on my visit to Harvard two weeks after I went to my visit at Dartmouth, and just kind of fell in love with the campus,” Padilla reminisced. “I also kind of liked the idea of being able to create my own thing at Harvard.”

Padilla arrived in 2022 as one of ten rookies set to join the women’s rugby team. Despite the team’s large freshman class, the women shared a common ambition from their first moments together on campus.

The Fallbrook native described how a sense of camaraderie quickly developed among the new class.

“We had a very similar drive of understanding what we wanted to do, what we wanted to accomplish, which I think is special in itself,” Padilla explained.

It did not take long for Padilla and her new teammates to make a visible impact on the pitch. In her freshman year, she was quick to contribute, scoring nine tries across the 15s season and then doubling her tally with another nine during the spring 7s season. The team made it to the national championship final, where it narrowly fell to Dartmouth in a heartbreaking 15-10 defeat.

The upsetting loss fueled the hungry Crimson team, which was determined to avenge itself the next year. In Padilla’s sophomore season, Harvard secured two national championship trophies, recording sweeping victories in both the 15s and 7s seasons. The success spurred a momentous three-year streak of 15s national championship wins, with her sophomore and senior seasons both being undefeated campaigns.

Padilla’s dominance in the Crimson jersey has come all over the pitch. During her freshman year, she started playing in the 13 position. As an outside center, she broke lines, serving as a major offensive contributor. Padilla then transitioned to a 12, the inside center, a position characterized by its combination of creative playmaking and physicality in defense. Padilla sees this as her favorite position, where she remained until a final change going into her senior year.

“I never wanted to be a 10,” she said, reflecting on her switch to flyhalf.

While many high school players aspire to play in the position known for its creativity and intelligence, Padilla had never been interested. Despite her initial hesitance, she embraced the flyhalf responsibilities in her senior season, delivering standout performances week in and week out.

Although she was apprehensive about the move, Padilla’s versatile efforts paid off as this spring she became Harvard’s first-ever winner of the Ma Sorenson Award, an annual accolade presented to the best player in women’s collegiate rugby.

“If I went zero for four, it would have been a record in itself,” she joked, remarking on being a four-time finalist for the award, making her the only player ever to complete the feat in collegiate rugby history.

Despite boasting three 15s national championships, a 7s national championship, and five Ivy League championships, Padilla asserts that winning does not become easier.

For Padilla, the victorious moments that most collegiate players merely dream of provide only temporary relief before she shifts her focus to the next season. Navigating the pressure that comes with playing on and leading a dynastic program has not always been easy.

In her junior spring, Padilla was elected as a captain by her teammates. With her two fellow captains sidelined with injuries during her first semester in the position, Padilla felt the weight of her new responsibilities as she attempted to motivate the team.

“My comfort zone isn’t being the loudest, most energetic person on the pitch, which I think is exactly what the team needed at the time,” Padilla explained. “Because I didn’t have my other captains on the field with me, I felt like I had to put that on my shoulders.”

Padilla’s response to these challenges was to lean on her teammates for support.

“Leaning on people, leaning on the team, telling coaches, being like, you can’t ask me a million things today. I’m feeling overwhelmed,” Padilla said. “It’s like, yeah, voicing those things and being able to maybe be slightly uncomfortable, but mention it.”

Padilla attributes her ability to be open and vulnerable with her teammates and coaches to the program’s unity throughout the highs and lows of collegiate athletics. Padilla’s favorite moments with her team are the ones that showcase its camaraderie, which in turn has brought it so much success on the field.

“I felt like our senior year was just such a good display of molding so many classes and people, because we had such massive bookend classes of freshmen and seniors and then some great athletes in between, but fairly small classes,” the captain said.

The team’s strong chemistry this fall led it to secure the 15s national championship three-peat with a 22-19 victory over Lindenwood on its home pitch.

“Yeah, that was a really good memory. Probably everyone on the pitch afterward, specifically,” reflected Padilla, referring to the post-game celebrations, including flares, drums, dancing, and team traditions on Mignone Field.

Though her collegiate stint has now come to a close, Padilla’s rugby career is far from over.

Having previously represented the USA at the under-18 level, the Fallbrook native has also received caps with the USA Eagles during her time in college. Looking ahead, she hopes to make the 2029 World Cup roster.

This upcoming summer, Padilla will also play her first minutes in the semi-professional women’s rugby league in the U.S., the Women’s Elite Rugby League. She will represent the Twin Cities Gemini, a Minnesota-based team, alongside past Harvard players and coaches, including Chloe Headland ’25, Brogan Mior ’24, and Sylvia Braaten, the Crimson’s former head coach.

“I definitely want to play, as long as I feel comfortable and happy and content playing,” Padilla said.

In addition to her athletic dreams, she will continue to pursue the academic interests she has nurtured at Harvard, as she is set to undertake a Master’s degree in Bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley, in September.

After she eventually hangs up her cleats, Padilla sees herself staying connected to the game through refereeing and coaching. She even jokes with the current Harvard head coach, Mel Denham, that she will maybe one day take over the Crimson’s head coaching role.

As she continues to write her name into Harvard’s history books, Padilla is focused on who she can inspire. She hopes that she will be able to have the lasting impact on young girls that Durbin once had on her.

“I think they kind of prove you can plop down anywhere, and as long as you’re being passionate enough and have enough knowledge to give, you can really make a difference to some random girls in whatever town you choose.”

—Staff writer Rhiannon Stewart can be reached at [email protected].