Arredondo Almeida Relishes Return to Form

It’s a relatively short 7s season for Dartmouth College Women’s Rugby, but the Hanover, N.H., program makes good use of its field time. The Division I team played its first 7s tournament of the year on April 6, and fewer than 30 days later was lifting the CRAA Premier 7s National Championship trophy. [lead photo: rudypics.com for CRAA]

RELATED: Stanford Wins CRAA Club 7s Title

Dartmouth featured in the 2024 DI NIRA final against Harvard, losing 19-12, and then days later began a six-week winter break. By the time the group returned to campus, players were eager to see their friends and start training again.

That time of year is especially enjoyable for Paola Arredondo Almeida, a USA U20 player who came out of Summit High School. The Coloradan program plays rugby 7s primarily, and it’s this speedy version of the game where the sophomore really shines. The Tigers do dabble in 15s and as recent as 2022 rallied for the single-school national tournament. Arredondo Almeida was part of that 2nd-place team, so she knows about the work involved in transitioning between 7s and 15s.

 

“I’m going to say Caroline Dolton,” she thought on Dartmouth 15s players who made unexpectedly good 7s players. “She broke her hand and didn’t really get to play during the 15s season, but she really surprised me. She is so strong and so fast, and has the ability to do so much. I really enjoyed watching her. She killed it.”

For Arredondo Almeida, this spring had the potential for redemption — for both herself and the team. She had strained her hamstring after the 2024 Tropical 7s and has had trouble with flare-ups. She was eager to return to top form.

“A main goal for me was to find joy in the process of recovery and giving myself grace in everything that my body does for me,” she said. “I think that was a huge mindset turn-around for me and allowed me to really push my limit.”

 

As for the team and last year’s 7s season, it ended in heartbreak when Lindenwood scored a game-ending try in the semifinals, keeping Dartmouth out of the title match. Arredondo Almeida just wanted this year’s team to finish the season on its own terms, and part of that build began with a focus on the basics.

“I think we just focused on the simple things,” she said. “We played a very simple game. We didn’t make complicated plays. We were just focused on playing very cleanly and very simply, and we depended a lot on our fitness. We were a very fit team this year.

“And we really connected a lot on and off the field,” Arredondo Almeida continued. “We did that through our core values that we have held since the 15s season started. Authenticity, grit, introspection, and unity. And I think that really drove us.”

Arredondo Almeida was part of a leadership group that included point people and assistants for each virtue. She served on the grit group.

 

“Each value has a representative and we would hold leadership meetings where we would tackle one value each week,” she explained. “So, if there was a very hard tournament that week, we would maybe focus a little bit more on doing a grit activity before practice — or stuff like that.”

It was a three-tournament season for Dartmouth, beginning with Princeton’s Emperor 7s on April 6. Dartmouth went beat West Chester, the host and Harvard in the finale. At the Ivy League 7s championship on April 19, Dartmouth went 4-0 en route to the title. The team beat Brown, Princeton and Harvard twice. Two weeks later, Dartmouth and 10 other NCAA and DIA teams from across the country reported to Indianapolis for the CRAA Premier 7s championship.

“I didn’t feel like we were behind,” Arredondo Almeida said of whether the team had enough field time to be championship ready. “I had so much confidence in our team, in our skills and our abilities, but we were also making sure that we didn’t get complacent. We really just figured every team was the hardest team we were going to play.”

 

Arredondo Almeida didn’t note any sense of anxiety or apprehension in the squad as it readied for the six-game weekend.

“I think one of the biggest changes that we’ve made this year is a big emphasis on, ‘Practice how you play, and play how you’ve practice,’” she explained. “And we’ve set the bar really high at practice.”

Even stretching, Arredondo Almeida explained, is exactly the same before training and before a game, so when it’s time to take the pitch – even in a championship scenario – there’s a familiarity and comfort to it.

“And we’ve really embraced that the failures we were experiencing in practice, they were good things,” Arredondo Almeida said of additional shifts. “People weren’t afraid to make mistakes or weren’t afraid to be creative during practice. So when it came to game time, everything was just fun. Like, you were working so hard and it was fun because you have already trained at that level. So the pressure was really off our shoulders.”

 

 

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The Premier 7s field was divided into pools of four – for the most part. One pool had just three teams due to Central Washington’s late withdrawal (the Wildcats Athletics Department suspended its support of the rugby programs – an announcement that circulated three weeks before the 7s championship). Dartmouth won its first two pool games 42-5 against Long Island and 48-7 against Penn State.

The team’s final pool game of the day kicked off at 6:18 p.m. CT, and the Big Green and Davenport were the final teams, across all competitions, to take the pitch at Kuntz Stadium. It had been a long day, but Dartmouth kept it together for one more win – 19-10 – to end the day 3-0.

Last game Friday and first game Saturday, Dartmouth was back on the pitch for its Cup quarterfinal against Princeton. These teams know each well, and the New Hampshire squad triumphed 34-5. Eventual finalist Life also won its Round of 8 game comfortably: 31-7 against Long Island.

 

 

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There was some drama to be had. Army edged 2024 champion Harvard 12-10 to advance to the semis, and Sacred Heart upset DIA 15s champion Lindenwood in a 14-12 decision.

“I was really excited to play Army,” Arredondo Almeida said of the team’s semifinal opponent. “We hadn’t played against them yet, and they bring different skills, techniques and a different fitness level to the competition. So I was really excited, but otherwise I don’t necessarily care about the opponent.
I really just like to go up against different playing styles.”

Big Green won 31-5, while on the other side of the bracket Life eliminated Sacred Heart 26-7. The two finalists had never met in a CRAA 7s final before. Dartmouth has featured in two other finals — in 2019 and 2022 — but both resulted in losses to Lindenwood. Life has featured in three finals and won it all in 2016 and 2023. On all three occasions, Lindenwood was the opponent in the title match.

 

But the May 3 trophy match belonged to Dartmouth, in all the ways. The Big Green put down a 31-0 shutout for its first-ever CRAA Premier 7s title.

“Something that we heard a lot throughout the weekend from spectators and something that, as a player, I could feel out on the field is that we were really just adapting as the game went on, and I think that was a huge factor,” said Arredondo Almeida looked at the big score lines.

“It’s easy to get distracted,” she continued. “But everybody came in strong and we all wanted the same outcomes, so we all did our parts. That was a huge ask of everybody, but we practiced those elite habits that we talked about throughout the years, and they added up to give us the results we all wanted.”

 

Arredondo Almeida led her team with 10 tries across the two days, and captain Katelyn Walker was named championship MVP. Sia Meni and Sadie Schier are also captains.

“I’m just so thankful of her,” Arredondo Almeida said. “She plays with joy and so much composure, but is also very competitive. She’s going to push her limits to be there. She will support you when you make a line break or if she needs to be there to form a ruck, she’s just work ethic and passion and I love her heart.

“She scored two tries in the championship, but tries aside, she contributes in so many ways,” she continued. “She pushes her limits to be there in support when you make a line break, or to form that ruck. She’s got great work ethic and passion, and I love her heart. Her presence makes me feel secure and confident in myself and in my team. She just she has it all.”

 

Arredondo Almeida will spend the next semester on campus in accordance with “sophomore summer” and will spend those hours of the classroom training and pushing her limits, just like Walker.

“I want to shout out our captains, our leadership group, and our coaches — oh, for so much, honestly,” the rising junior closed. “I think everybody just had so much passion this year — everyone.”