Women's Rugby Splits Opening Games at Bowdoin

In its first weekend of action, the Harvard women’s rugby team dropped a match against a University of Prince Edward Island team it had never faced and defeated Division II heavyweight Bowdoin at the Bowdoin Round Robin.

Despite having a young squad, the team’s relative lack of experience did not show, with two of the team’s four tries for the weekend coming from freshman.

Last spring, the team had its first experience playing 7’s rugby—a change most saw as beneficial because of the faster pace and a tighter level of execution required for success. Overall, both players and Harvard coach Sue Parker saw the weekend as a great opportunity to showcase some of what they learned from 7’s.

“It’s clear that all of our freshmen are going to be huge contributors to this team,” Parker said. “I think it all works together. The opportunity we had to play 7’s was critical for each player and the team because everyone is really filling into rugby.”

UNIVERSITY OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 19, HARVARD 7

Despite the loss to the Panthers, a lot came together for the Crimson in its first matchup of the day. Throughout the game, freshmen and veterans alike made more than a few critical tackles, with freshman center Caitlin Wiegel scoring the lone try for Harvard.

Captain Hope Schwartz, a former Crimson Sports editor, credited former two-time high school All-American Weigel’s try as an important starting point for the season.

“She ran a really beautiful line and a line that we’ve been working on and really emphasizing this season,” Schwartz said. “It was really cool to see that work. The try happened not just because of Caitlin’s really good line but because our whole team did exactly what we had been practicing to do.”

UPEI had scored twice before the Crimson had a successful try and conversion. The Panthers, led by Team Canada standout Alysha Corrigan, also converted on two of their three tries to take the game by a 19-7 score.

“Most of those girls on that team have been playing rugby throughout their high school careers,” Parker said. “I thought we played a strong game given the fact that it was our first real competition of the year. I don’t think they really had anything on us athletically but they definitely had more experience rugby wise.”

HARVARD 15, BOWDOIN 0

In the second game of the round robin, the Crimson got going early with all three of its tries coming in the first half. Junior fly-half Taciana Pereira and classmate Claire Collins both scored, while the third try came from freshman wing Sarah Lipson.

“[Lipson] was able to turn the corner on a defender, beat another defender, and score down in the corner,” Schwartz said. “This is the first time she had played in the game after practicing with us for only a week and a half.”

Bowdoin, a school that has traditionally competes at the Division III level for most of its sports, plays up a division in women’s rugby, where the team is part of the Division II New England Small College league. The team has competed for the national championship and went undefeated in conference play last year, underscoring its abilities.

The early offense proved to be enough for Harvard, as the score held through the second half with neither team scoring.

“We played a lot better at the end of the day than we did at the beginning and that’s sort of what were looking for in a preseason exhibition game,” Schwartz said. “I would say that we worked out a lot of the issues that came out in the first game and improved it in the second game.”

–Staff writer Troy Boccelli can be reached at tboccelli@college.harvard.edu.