This past weekend, the women's rugby team participated in the Springfield Rugby Football Club Sevens Rugby Tournament in Holyoke, Mass. The Big Green also plans to host its own rugby tournament next weekend.
The upcoming home event is "an add-on in the summer sevens schedule of tournaments," according to head coach Deb Archambault. The full roster of teams that will participate is unconfirmed, but women's teams from Portland, Maine, Springfield, Mass., Burlington, Vt., and Colby-Sawyer College are currently tentative participants, she said.
Men's teams from Harvard University, Boston College and Northeastern University have expressed interest as well, Archambault said.
In the recent tournament, the Big Green played four matches against local clubs. The team ended with a 2-2 record, beating the Springfield Women No. 1, the eventual tournament champions, 19-5 in the second match.
During the match against Springfield, the Big Green received a penalty when Maggie Conners '13 illegally tackled a player on a breakaway. Conners was given a yellow card and was sin-binned near the end of the match, but Dartmouth was not deterred and went on to defeat the future tournament champions.
Dartmouth also swept the Falcons Women No. 2 29-0 in the final heat, while losing to the Falcons Women No. 3 15-10 and to Albany No. 1 24-0.
The Big Green also played Portland in a scrimmage at the tournament. Portland came in second overall behind Springfield No. 1.
Team captain Ashley Afranie-Sakyi '13 scored 41 points over the course of the four matches, which was the highest number of points scored by a member of the Dartmouth women's team over the course of the tournament.
As captain, Afranie-Sakyi said that the team hopes "to continue the development of our sevens team into the year," adding that there are tournaments in which the Big Green can participate during the regular season.
Dani Valdes '13 followed Afranie-Sakyi's point total with 15 points, and Karoline Walter '13 and Conners scored five and two points, respectively.
Due to the team's reduced number of players in the summer, for the Springfield tournament, the Big Green focused on adapting to a new style of play, sevens. According to Melanie Pastuck '11, a volunteer assistant coach and former member of the team, sevens is a variant of traditional 15-player rugby union.
"Our goals for this tournament were to improve our organization, particularly on defense, to develop good communication and to fully realize the transition between playing fifteens and sevens," Archambault said.
Archambault added that while the sophomores on both the men's and women's teams are not yet experienced players in sevens, they are talented enough to play competitively.
"Both teams have some great runners and tough defenders, so we should be competitive enough to provide a very entertaining day," Archambault said of the upcoming home tournament.
Although most rules in rugby sevens are the same as in 15-player rugby union, the sevens game relies more on evasive running and possession instead of physical contact, according to Pastuck.
"The game demands both speed and stamina from all the players on the pitch," Pastuck said. "We sought to incorporate all of the players we brought, including two new athletes who began their rugby careers this summer." Archambault said she was hopeful that the team would continue to play well and gain more experience for future competitions.
"I think we met our goals, and in unexpected ways, exceeded them," she said. "Our set pieces were strong, and our defense improved significantly. I think everyone's really excited to develop our sevens team now that we've had our first tournament experience."
Walter said she is particularly excited about the rest of the summer, as "there's a lot of opportunity to get individual help, attention and coaching," and "everyone gets a lot more playing time and touches on the ball."
