Men's Rugby Clinches N.E. Regional Championship Bid

It's happened so often for this year's rugby club that the very use of the cliche has become cliched.

Indeed, losses ranging from key personnel (to graduation) to a key game (to Yale) have dealt setbacks that could have crippled the team and resulted in a season of mediocrity.

But the Crimson has overcome all adversity to attain what was once viewed as the unattainable. With an emotional 34-27 victory over Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H., Saturday, Harvard clinched the New England Regional Championship for the third time in four years.

Even the Dartmouth game itself posed several seemingly insurmountable obstacles. For example, co-captain Andrew Howard, serving the second half of a two-game suspension for arguing with a referee, was relegated to the sidelines.

And when Dartmouth went up 10-0 on two unconverted tries (equivalent to football touchdowns) in the first 10 minutes of the game, "I thought that would bring the guys down," Howard said.

But the Crimson slowly chipped away at the lead. Utilizing a three-point penalty kick and a powerful drive past the goal line from Matteo Peccei, Harvard brought itself to within 17-10 at the half.

At the half, the team concluded that poor tackling was at the root of the deficit.

"We knew we were better than them," co-captain Steve Raser said, "so we just had to pick it up."

A few minutes into the second half, sophomore winger Chris Matarese went one-on-one with his Dartmouth counterpart, dodged him, and scored. An easy conversion tied the game at 17.

"At that point, we decided that it was a completely new game," Howard said, "and we were going to dominate."

The Crimson didn't exactly dominate, but it was able to maintain the lead throughout the rest of the game. Raser marked Harvard's final score when he caught the ball and plowed through the defense with a head of steam.

When the final whistle sealed the 34-27 victory, "everyone reacted in an extremely relieved and euphoric way," Howard said.

Furthermore, the win capped a 6-1 season for the Crimson and ensured its position atop the region. A stunning loss to a weak Yale squad had left Harvard tied with Boston University at 5-1 prior to the weekend. But the Crimson knew going into Saturday's match that a victory would give it the title, since Harvard defeated BU 47-18 earlier in the season.

With the regional championship under its belts, Harvard will now proceed to the Northeastern tournament in Philadelphia on November 20.

"We're going to be outsized by pretty much everyone there," Raser said, "so we have to get our plays down and our fitness up; that's the way we've been beating bigger teams [all year]."

If Harvard emerges undefeated from the Northeastern tournament, it must win two more games at the Eastern championships to qualify for the national semifinals in May.

So can the Crimson duplicate (or even surpass) the success of last year's squad, which advanced all the way to the national semifinals?

"On paper, we're probably not as good as last year, certainly not as big," Raser said, "but you never know what can happen."

And that has been the Crimson's rallying cry this season.