This past Saturday, the Dartmouth Women's Rugby Club bussed out on Homecoming to take on and ultimately defeat Boston College by a score of 5-3. Dartmouth came out strong in the first few minutes of the game with a spectacular run by Cristina Duncan Evans '06, who broke tackles by no less than four BC players. Large gaps on the outside spurred the Dartmouth backs to pass the ball out quickly to a sprinting Diana Geisser '06 who scored the first and only try within ten minutes of kick-off.
The play was continuously stalled by knock-ons and the ball being brought down in unsuccessful mauls, resulting in just under 50 scrums over the duration of the match. Yet Dartmouth scrums were sturdy and able to drive BC well. Although BC consistently set and controlled the mauls, great defensive pressure by flankers Sinny Wang '08 and Issy Anderson '07 and well timed tackles by Julia Jacobsen '08 prevented BC from getting the ball past its inside center.
The Dartmouth centers, Jacobsen and Katie Moerlein '08, ran aggressively onto the ball and broke though several defensive players but due to pressure from BC failed to get it out wide to the wings where there was ample space to run. BC inched its way towards Dartmouth's defensive tryline and kicked for points off an unfortunate penalty bringing the score to 5-3.
At the beginning of the second half the backline still had trouble getting the ball out wide, but smooth integration by forwards into the line produced a beautiful vertical game. Both teams attempted a kicking game resulting in a confused chain of kicks between the wings and fullbacks before winger Krystal Elkins '08 began a stream of great runs by Jacobsen and Geisser by taking the ball up the blindside and violently separating herself from the defense with effective straight arms. The breakthroughs were followed by a series of knock-ons and scrums by both teams. "Dartmouth dominated in almost every scrum or ruck, proving that the D stands for domination," commented Chantee Parris '06 on Dartmouth's superior control and strength.
Scrumhalf Lily Lei '06 performed brilliantly under pressure keeping her passes quick and smooth allowing the back line to storm up the pitch near the end of the game. However BC kept up solid defense and despite amazing defense around scrums and Meg Rast's '06 whirlwind tackles, the Eagles pushed Dartmouth away from the tryline for the remainder of the match.
This win means not only that the DWRC will be playing BU at home next Saturday but that the team has also made it into the NRU playoffs the weekend of Nov. 4.
