AMHERST, Mass. -- Coming off a narrow yet important victory over a strong squad from the University of Connecticut last weekend, the Dartmouth rugby team was poised to continue its winning streak Saturday against the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In a sloppy match marred by numerous penalties for both teams, Dartmouth was able to hang on and keep the streak alive with a 19-14 victory, improving its season record to 4-2.
Throughout the first half, UMass kept the ball in Dartmouth territory primarily due to poor Dartmouth tackling and a slew of penalties. Every time that the Big Green gained the ball, the team was immediately halted by a costly mistake or penalty.
"As a back it was extremely frustrating," commented co-captain and outside center Brad Hogate '05, "because we rarely got the ball cleanly in the first half. Even when we did, we quickly gave it right back."
After failing to convert on two attempts to kick for points, UMass finally managed to break through in the 34th minute. The play developed as a succession of short runs brought UMass within 10 m of the try zone. When the UMass flyhalf passed the ball out to the team's outside center, the center broke two tackles to score and put UMass up 7-0 going into the half.
Dartmouth came out in the second half with the intensity of a team that knew that a loss would deny it a playoff berth. Five minutes into the half, Dartmouth capitalized on the opportunity that its forwards created when they stole the ball in a UMass scrum.
The backs quickly maneuvered the ball to the far side of the field, where Hogate dished it to streaking wing Will Pierce '06. Pierce broke through and made a 50 m dash for the try. Fullback and kicker Andrew Caspary '06 managed to convert the kick to tie the score at 7-7.
For the next 20 minutes of continuous play, Dartmouth increasingly applied pressure to the UMass squad, though it had little to show for the effort until the 65th minute of the game. Then, the team finally capitalized when, after bringing the defense to the right side of the field, it quickly reversed direction to the left and passed the ball out wide to Caspary, who sprinted into the try zone and set the ball down. He also converted to kick to put Dartmouth up 14-7.
The Big Green scored again off of a Dartmouth lineout on the UMass 22 m line with five minutes left in the game. The Dartmouth forwards set up a driving maul, until prop Omar Foda '07 extricated the ball and spun away to make a 15 m run into the try zone. With his effort, Dartmouth went up 19-7.
As the clock wound down, UMass gained an unexpected opportunity to score when Dartmouth was penalized a number of times in its own half. After a UMass scrum on the Dartmouth 5 m, the UMass backs passed the ball to a center who ran past an errant tackle to score and narrow Dartmouth's lead to five points. Neither team would score again.
With only one match left in the season, Dartmouth finds itself positioned in the standings just below UConn and rival Northeastern, whom Dartmouth faces Saturday at home. According to captain Erik Richardson '05, "Our Homecoming match against Northeastern basically determines whether we make it into the postseason."
