Team captain and fullback Madison Hughes '15 led the team as they unseated the defending champion in the final round, winning the tournament's most valuable player award in the process.
"The way we played in this first tournament of the summer, our defense in particular, sets the tone for the training and two tournaments we have in the coming weeks," Jake Levine '15 said. "Coming away from last weekend's matches with five wins and some hardware, our confidence is high and we're excited to move forward from here."
Dartmouth began the morning with round-robin matches against Framingham and South Shore. The Big Green dominated both teams, refusing to yield a single point to Framingham in a 42-0 win.
"That first game we stuck to the fundamentals and it paid off," Levine said. "The convincing win was good with stiffer competition ahead of us."
The Big Green continued to dominate its pool, coasting to a 21-5 win over South Shore.
Eight teams advanced to the quarterfinals round. Because of their dominating 2-0 record in pool play, Dartmouth earned the number one seed.
In the first round, the Big Green faced off against Mystic River and defeated one of the hometown teams 21-5. Dartmouth's balanced scoring attack included tries by former club president Clark Judge '12 and their strength and conditioning coach, James Willocks.
Levine said that the summer term is a great opportunity for other athletes to take advantage of a more lenient practice schedule and give rugby a try.
"It was great to see guys who are new to the sport like Richard Newsome-White '15 and Pedro Robinson '15 make an impact, as well as veterans like Wil Chockley '15, Mike McDavid '15 and Peter Savarese '15 pick things up right from where we left off at the end of last season," Levine said.
The Big Green went on to triumph over Middlesex in the semifinals 21-7, tallying up to a point differential of 105-17 for the first four games. Hughes praised the team's strong defensive showing, which allowed them to cruise on to the finals against the Wolfhounds.
"Our defense was superb all day, and really carried us to victory," Hughes said. "This was only achievable because of a total team effort, with every player meeting the physical challenge of facing older and more experienced players."
The tournament hosted 21 men's club teams with players ranging in age from 19 to mid-30s. But no one was able to break Dartmouth's defensive wall.
"We've been coached very well and, because of that, we were not out-experienced," Savarese said. "But what the age difference did mean was a big difference in size. We used our strengths like fitness and speed to compete."
In the championship game, neither team seemed able to shake the other. The Big Green and Wolfhounds remained deadlocked at zero for almost the entire game, with few threats to the scoreboard. Finally, with less than two minutes remaining, Dartmouth forced a turnover and drew a penalty as the Big Green tried to attack the try zone. Hughes elected to go for the drop goal off the resulting dead ball. He drove it through the uprights to give Dartmouth a 3-0 lead, which was all the team needed to withstand a frenzied last minute attack by the Wolfhounds and win the championship.
"After we took the lead, it was just don't let them score," Savarese said. "The final whistle was a huge relief."
Both teams had dominated the tournament, even though the Wolfhounds were seeded third. Up until the title game, the Wolfhounds had outscored its opponents 98-5.
"The final was an exhilarating affair," Hughes said. "Managing to hold the Wolfhounds scoreless was outstanding, and they were a very capable and threatening side."
The team will continue with a tournament in Hanover at the end of the month and another on Aug. 3 in Kennebunkport, Maine.
"Our strategy will be more of the same play solid defense and use our speed on the outside to make plays happen," Savarese said.
