The Dartmouth men's rugby team won its final home game of the year against Boston College on Saturday in the Northeastern Territorial Quarterfinals. The 50-8 victory brought the team its 13th consecutive win this season.
"I think the game went really well," Charles Grant '11 said. "[Boston College was] one of the better teams that we have faced, and we were still able to go out and accomplish what we needed to."
The Big Green came out strong against a very physical Eagles team. An early try by Grant gave Dartmouth a five-point lead, but Boston College was quick to strike back, scoring its own try less than three minutes later.
Grant completed his second try of the game just two minutes later, bringing the score to 10-5. Both offenses were held scoreless for over 20 minutes until a try by Will Lehmann '12 was followed quickly by an Eagle conversion.
With just minutes left in the half, Chris Downer '11 was able to respond with a try of his own, coming off of a midfield steal by Tay Stevenson '10.
In the second half, another try by Grant and three more tries by Lehmann, along with conversions by Derek Fish '12 and Tommy Brothers '11 allowed the Big Green to put away the Eagles.
Dartmouth shut out Boston 26-0 in the second half.
"Overall, I think the game went fantastically well," Lehmann said. "We were able to maintain a high level of intensity throughout the game, and I think it is reflective of all of the hard work we have put in."
In addition to being a quarterfinal game, the match against the Eagles also signified the last time that the seniors on the Dartmouth team would play at Brophy Field.
"I think this last match was a fantastic way to send the seniors off," Lehmann said. "They have done Dartmouth rugby proud."
The five seniors on the Dartmouth squad make up the first class to have played on Brophy Field all four years of their carreers. The game was emotional, co-captain Michael DiBenedetto '10 said, but the seniors saw this as motivation to play their best, rather than pressure to perform.
The younger members of the team, however, felt differently, Grant said.
"There was definitely more pressure during this game," he said. "We have a pretty small senior class, but they represent our leadership. We wanted to play our best for them."
Dartmouth will travel to West Point, N.Y., this Friday, where top-seed Army will play host to the Northeastern Territorial semifinals and finals. The Big Green, the second seed in the round of four, will face off against No. 3 Syracuse University on Saturday.
If Dartmouth beats the Orange, it will play in the finals on Sunday against the the winner of the Army-Fordham University match.
"If we don't win this game, there will be no spring season, so we will be working hard and taking this one game at a time instead of looking ahead," DiBenedetto said.
A victory against Syracuse would send Dartmouth into spring competition, where the ruggers would compete in the USA Rugby national tournament in April.
