Photo: Kim Ruckdaschel-Haley
Dartmouth College (3-0) and Army West Point (1-1, 2-1) contested the closest Division I match in National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) league play this season, with the Big Green banking a 34-28 victory. The tight game provided a lot of good intel for the teams going forward and will hasten their improvement throughout the fall.
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Like all teams everywhere, Dartmouth had to adjust to Covid-19 by taking team-building virtual. During the 2020-21 schoolyear, classes rotated onto campus, so while the rugby team was able to do some light training, the team as a whole was never together.
“We were having Zoom meetings every week and connecting and building up our culture, which I think was very successful during a difficult time,” said Sophia Haley, who captains the squad alongside Ale Ada and Emily Henrich. “It was pretty challenging, and it’s very hard to connect with people online, but I think the work our team put in during that year really paid off. We were able to get to a running start once we got to pre-season, just with our relationships with one another.”
Haley confessed that she had some anxiety serving as a captain for what was always going to be a tough season, but there was comfort in knowing she wasn’t alone in the leadership role.
Ale Ada / Photo: Noah Murray
“We have a leadership group; it’s not just our captains,” Haley explained. “We have three at-large reps in various class years who are helping us. We have a Diversity & Inclusion leader and recruitment chairs and many different leadership positions throughout the team. We had meetings on meetings preparing for this year, and I knew that I would be well supported.”
Dartmouth began the DI NIRA season with a home game against Long Island University, which was playing its first all-DI season under new head coach Jinnie Pratt (stay tuned for interview).
“I was definitely more nervous going into the first game – just personally, not as a team – thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I haven’t played rugby in almost two years. What is being hit feel like? How do I tackle,” Haley recalled. “After I got in the first play I remember it just felt normal and felt natural. After talking to different teammates or even players on the other team, it seemed like everyone got their jitters out after the first play, so that was really nice.”
Photo: Kim Ruckdaschel-Haley
Dartmouth won 92-5 and then turned around the next week for Quinnipiac.
“The first game against LIU was such a physical game and I think that just got everyone ready for contact again,” Haley said. “I know contact is my favorite part of the game so I remember just being very happy throughout the whole game. That was our game to experiment and play a bit and then once we hit Quinnipiac, we were really trying to get our strategy put together – when we’re going to pass out wide, getting our offloads on. Those two games together, that set us up to look forward – getting our contact piece down and starting to get the strategy piece together.”
Dartmouth banked a 50-10 win against the Bobcats, and then readied for Army in week three.
Julia Riekena / Photo: Noah Murray
“Army is a great team,” Haley said of expectations. “My respect for Army is so high. They’re always so fit and I knew it was going to be a good game regardless of the score. … Good games like that, having such high competition, is what makes rugby so fun and what makes all the team grow and appreciate the sport.”
Dartmouth held a 29-0 lead into the second half, as Lilly Durbin (2), Kristin Bitter, Nicole Ihensekhien and Henrich scored tries and Abbey Savin kicked two conversions.
“We were proud of our first 20 minutes. We played very well. And many of our scores were team tries, which was great,” Haley said. “When Army came back it was nice because I think our whole team held our composure. I’ve definitely been a part of different teams where people kind of get high energy, but everyone remained calm and we tried to focus on one or two things going into the next kickoff.”
The Black Knights already have experience this season with comebacks, as the team’s opener required overtime to beat Brown University 26-19.
Photo: Noah Murray
“The team responded exactly how I knew it would,” Army co-captain Rebecca Syrup reflected on the deficit. “Our team showed immense grit, heart, and a will to never give up in the match. We focused not on the score of the game, but on our love for each other as teammates and our love for the game of rugby. All we needed was one try on the board, and that was enough to fire us up for the rest of the game.”
That first try came through Syrup herself, and Codi Butt kicked the first of four conversions: 29-7.
“I saw our team come together as one unit and string together three tries in a row to turn the tide of the game,” Syrup noted subsequent scores from No. 8 Julia Riekena and fellow co-captain Sydney Schaaf. “Not one player on our team gave up during the game, and the substitutes also came into the game with a motivating attitude, which lifted the team even higher. We tightened up our offense to create good phase play and connection between forwards and backs, which allowed us to gain lots of ground.”
Photo: Noah Murray
With 12 minutes to play, Army trailed 29-21. Dartmouth got the distance it needed from a second Henrich try, 34-21. The home side kept pushing and put Naomi Colin away for a final try and conversion: 34-29 the final.
“The Dartmouth game showed us that we need to start every game with the mindset we had going into the second half,” Syrup talked take-aways. “Although we made mistakes, we could have put points on the board from the beginning. We were the same team physically both halves, but our shift in mindset is what closed the gap.
“Mechanically, we need to tighten up our defensive structure and focus on maintaining possession of the ball into contact for this next match,” the co-captain continued. “We strung a lot of good phase play together in the second half against Dartmouth, which I believe will set us up for success in future matches.”
Photo: Kim Ruckdaschel-Haley
The game provided great intel for Dartmouth as well.
“We just have little things to work on, like getting around the ruck and having a collective launch,” Haley said. “We had effort on effort throughout the game, so I’m really proud of our effort and our commitment to the team throughout the game.
“Teams like Army – and we have great competition throughout the entire NIRA league – are not just going to hand us the match,” the flanker said. “This competition is what makes rugby so much fun and what helps us grow. It’s good to have a close match at the beginning of the season so we know we need to come out hard and push through the entire match.”
The intensity of the game also brings out the best in the players.
“Julia Riekena is our eightman and is one of the most experienced rugby players on our team,” Syrup praised the junior. “Her leadership and on-field performance have been amazing. She grounds the team emotionally during each match and is someone a lot of players look to for advice. She is a very strong player who has a bright future for leadership on this team.
Kaitlyn Schwarting / Photo: Noah Murray
“Two other players to note are Naomi Colin and Kaitlyn Schwarting,” she continued. “Naomi is having an outstanding start to this season in terms of leadership and flexibility of position. She directs players across the pitch and although she is a lock, she plays very well between the backs and forwards. Kaity Schwarting is playing flyhalf for our team, which is a new position for her. She has stepped into the role effortlessly due to her dedication outside of practice hours to learn the new position. She is starting to command well on the field, and her performance thus far is showing a lot of promise for future matches.”
“I’ve never played with Lilly Durbin before yet I’ve had a friendship with her for years,” Haley said of the league’s leading try-scorer. “But seeing people recovery from injuries like Lilly Durbin, Sophie Ragg, countless others – that has been the most exciting part for me. And just seeing the energy from the freshmen coming in – Sia [Meni] and Sadie [Schier] and all the freshmen – they’ve been great and made a big impact on and off the field.”
Haley lauded the season-long performance of Durbin and Henrich in the middle of the pitch, as well as Lauren Ferridge up front.
“Seeing these people do their thing has been wonderful,” she added. “We’ve also had a lot of new people in our team making their first collegiate tries, which is always such a unique time, having everyone rush in and hug them after they get their first score. That has been the highlight of my season.”
There is still a lot of rugby to play this fall, and this contest will go a long way in helping both squads ready for more challenges to come.
Photo: Noah Murray
“The team was initially disappointed, as most teams would be after a tough loss. However, the team’s mindset about the outcome shifted after a speech from our coach, Bill LeClerc,” Syrup explained post-match reactions. “He told us that the score of the game did not matter. He said what mattered was our determination to never give up. He was very proud of the way we played in the second half and told us that is what W.A.R. [Women’s Army Rugby] is all about.
“The team became hungry for the next game, when we will show that our second-half play is who we really are as a team,” Syrup continued. “We have a lot of younger players on the team who do not have experience playing higher-caliber teams such as Dartmouth. Dartmouth is a good rugby team. But the lessons we are taking from Sunday’s game will only help us improve and focus on our mental game as much as our physical game.”
Photo: Kim Ruckdaschel-Haley
“That is always part of our collective goal and what we want to strive for,” Haley said of title hopes. “We had a team meeting the other week that not only talked about where we want to be post-season but also talked about our impact. We want to have a good impact on the community. We want to have a good impact on each other. We want to play for the alumni. So I think our goal is much bigger than a national championship – I think that is part of the goal – but we want to play because we love rugby and we love each other and we love our community and our school.”
Dartmouth enters a bye week and then will host Sacred Heart (0-2) in Hanover, N.H. Army is back at this Friday and will play Quinnipiac (1-1) at home.