Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2004/11/24/rugby_secures_national_playoff_berth.php
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
After a five-year drought, the Dartmouth Rugby Football Club clinched the number nine seed in the national Division One Sweet Sixteen. The team struggled earlier, losing to Boston College at home in the first week of the season and a loss to Army later, giving them a 1-2 early season record. However, the team fought back and finished out the regular season undefeated with a regular season record of 7-2, and the second seed from New England in the Northeast Championship. The men in Green dominated Syracuse 58-15 at home in the first round of playoffs, earning a spot in the Final Four of the Northeast Championship.
The Northeast Championship was scheduled to be a weekend-long tourney at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, but snow caused the Saturday matches to be canceled. The teams were then slated to play two games on Sunday. Scheduled to play Boston College in the first round, a victory was likely to secure a spot in the National Championship this spring and a game against Army for the Northeast Championship. However; a loss would crush any hope for a national berth. As Captain Erik Richardson '05 explained, "We knew it was going to be a hard test playing two games in one day and playing the two teams we lost to during the regular season. It's not often that you get that opportunity."
The team hit the soggy pitch with furious passion and fervor. The Dartmouth men capitalized early on BC penalties as full back and rugby-hero Andrew Caspary '06 kicked for points in the twelfth and eighteenth minutes. As Richardson said of the team's performance, "We came out with a lot of passion against BC and fought a close match. We played with unmatched intensity and committed few penalties, which made the difference in the end." Although Dartmouth secured an early lead, BC answered back as they banged up the pitch for a try in the thirtieth minute. The score was brought to 6-5 Dartmouth at the half.
Back at play, BC capitalized on an early Dartmouth penalty and kicked three points to make the score 6-8 BC. The Dartmouth men found themselves behind for the first time but quickly rallied. Joe Boswell '06 punched in a try off a quick ruck. The closing minutes of the game were characterized by a punishing Dartmouth defense. An amazing try in the fiftieth by Bradley Hogate '05, Mr. Lake Hamilton, cemented the 18-8 Dartmouth victory.
The Army match at 1:30 for the Northeast Championship did not go as well. A tired Dartmouth squad faced a relatively fresh Army team that had rested its A-side starters for the final match. Sloppy defense, slow transition, poor tackling, and an inability to maintain possession took the wind out of Green's sails. As wombat Isaac Kardon '05 put it, "after putting on a good show in the first game, we had a hard time adjusting our laser calibration to combat the fascist robots on Army. We'll have our technicians straighten that out before April, though." The 46-0 loss to Army was indeed disappointing.
But according to Richardson, the team still felt a great sense of achievement as "someone reminded us that we had just qualified for nationals, and the reality sunk in. It's a great feeling after putting in all of the effort and having not qualified in the past five years." Indeed, Dartmouth capped off their season by achieving one of its primary goals—a chance at the National title.
The first matches of the National Championships will be in mid-April and will likely be hosted by perennial National Champions Cal Berkley. Dartmouth will face the number-one team from the South in the first round, and has a tough road to the National title but hard work in the off-season and the return of injured key starters Kardon and Jesse Blom '06 should make this spring's team one of the strongest in Dartmouth history.