How NIRA Finalists Handle Close Games Could Tell the Story
How NIRA Finalists Handle Close Games Could Tell the Story
The big word coming out of the Harvard camp this season has been “resilience.”
The defending champions did not find the 2024 NIRA season easy, despite returning a large chunk of their championship team from 2023.
Instead, despite two high-margin wins, much of the first several weeks of the season was highlighted by nailbiters. A 20-20 tie with Quinnipiac, a 25-20 win over Sacred Heart, a win of 18-12 over Brown, and a 26-19 loss to Dartmouth.
All of those games were close and Harvard has learned much from that. That helped them get by Army in the semifinals 26-19. It might help them get by Dartmouth in the final.
“Having close games this year has been a reminder of how resilient we are as a team.,” said Harvard Head Coach Mel Denham T”hat brings a lot of confidence to the team in terms of knowing what we are capable of under pressure and in game changing moments.”
Dartmouth, for their part, have not had the same experience. The Big Green has been somewhat dominant this season, led by an excellent forward pack. But in the semifinals, things were a little different for them. Having beaten Brown 60-19 on November 2, Dartmouth found much more difficulty in the semifinal against Brown two weeks later. Final score 47-33, but Head Coach Katie Dowty wasn’t panicking.
“We knew Akilah [Cathey] would be back for Brown in this match and she is such a threat,” said Dowty. “They have a great one-two punch with Akilah and Nikki Lynch, forcing you to defend Akilah first phase and Nikki Lynch screaming around the corner second phase. We prepared for defending it, looked to force them away from those key threats and got some good double tackles on those key players throughout the match. But Akilah still punctured the line for them several times and provided a lot more front-foot ball and scoring opportunities than they had in our last match.”
So Dartmouth just had to hang tough, and maybe tested for the only time other than their Harvard match, they did just that.
“We were really happy with our set-piece execution, particularly at the lineout, and our kicking game,” said Dowty. “Abbey Savin always keeps us in the right part of the pitch and she had another great tactical game. Also happy we are looking up, looking to move the ball to easier space, and pushing the tempo.”
What that leads to is Saturday’s final, 4PM ET Live on ESPN+ Here>>
Both teams are prepared for this game to be quite close. It’s unlikely anyone will lose their composure due to the gravity of the moment. The last two years the win has gone to the team that has found that one big play at the key moment. Maybe this time will be the same.
