Mixed Results in Rugby Weekend Tournament

The Harvard women’s rugby team opened their sevens with a strong showing against both old and new opponents this Saturday at the second annual Frostbite 7s Tournament. Hosted by the Crimson, the tournament was played in the sevens format with seven players on the field rather than a full 15 for each side.

In the first tournament of the sevens season, Harvard had an overall record of 5-1 against MIT, Siena, Yale, and New Hampshire this Saturday at Harvard Stadium, with the home team being split into Crimson and Black groups. The Crimson squad went 3-0 on the day and won the tournament, while the Black team finished 2-1 in third place.

“It was...a warm-up tournament with teams from all over, not really teams in our bracket, but it really went fantastic,” sophomore Maya Learned said. “I couldn’t have been happier with the results.”

CRIMSON SQUAD

It was just one of those days for the defense of the Crimson squad this weekend, as everything seemed to go its way en route to a 130-0 overall score.

The team played three games on the day without letting their opponents score a single try.

“Everybody came together,” Learned said. “It just really speaks to the girls’ work ethic and their willingness to commit to the defense plan that we have in place.”

The team’s first pool play game was against MIT, the only other team who played in last year’s Frostbite 7s Tournament. After coming out to a 29-0 advantage in the seven minutes, the Crimson squad ended the game 67-0. Dalton Youngblood, a sophomore out of Dallas, scored six tries in the match.

In the second pool play game, the Crimson’s defense held strong against Siena’s offensive attack, winning the match 46-0. The team entered halftime with a 24-0 lead before winning their pool.

The Crimson team’s last game was against New Hampshire in the first place game, and Harvard blanked its opponent, 17-0. Youngblood scored another two tries in the match.

“Sevens is a simplified version of 15s in some ways were your skills have to be really on top of it,” Learned said. “But it’s a very fun, really enjoyable way to...get a good feeling of the game.”

BLACK SQUAD

Contrary to the Crimson squad’s blow-out pool play games, the Black team was engaged in two defensive slugfests against Yale and New Hampshire, with the games totalling a score of 17-17. The Black team ended pool play 1-1 before winning the third place game against Siena.

With just over two minutes left in the Black team’s first pool play game against rival Yale, freshman Grace Chao scored a go-ahead try in what proved to be a 17-7 victory for Harvard.

“We have a lot of people who haven’t played sevens before balanced with a lot of people who had pretty high level experience with sevens,” Chao said. “Everybody contributed something significant. Our brand new players seemed to really enjoy it.”

The lone Harvard loss of the day came in the Black team’s second pool play game against New Hampshire. The Wildcats had a 10-0 lead at halftime which they retained throughout the game, shutting out the Black team.

The Black team, however, was able to win the third place game by blanking SIena 19-0. The freshmen were involved in this game as well, as Genevieve Quirion scored the opening try of the contest.

––Staff writer Wade G. Player can be reached at wplayer@college.harvard.edu.