NIRA's season opened officially this weekend with six games (plus one additional) on the slate.
Now, a caveat for the information below. NIRA's standings use a formula to rank teams that includes their offensive and defensive statistics, how close they get in losses, and strength of schedule.
The strength of schedule bit is the speed bump; the formula needs some current-season data before it all gets plugged in. Right now, all teams start the season equal, but we also know that there is a hierarchy. Look at the schedules of certain teams in NIRA DI and you'll see some schedules are clearly stronger than others, and that will show up in the power rankings.
Keep that in mind as we go through the season.
Defending Champs Survive
Sacred Heart scored with no time left to almost finish a stirring comeback against three-time defending champions Harvard. That try made it 26-24 but the score was wide in the corner. The conversion didn't go over, and Harvard held on by two.
Harvard got on the board early, working their way in close and seeing flanker Gemma Ogoke over in traffic.
SHU responded, taking a lineout off a penalty. The ensuing maul went to ground and after some discussion referee Morgan Roberts ruled a penalty try and we were tied 7-7.
For much of the rest of the half both teams battled in the middle section of the field. Both sides defended well. Finally SHU got a penalty and while the kick to touch rolled into in-goal, Harvard was forced to kick clear and didn't make much ground. The Pioneers went wide off the lineout and Carrie Coyer-Westerberg finished it off in the corner.
Sacred Heart led 12-7 and time was winding down in the first half when SHU was back pressuring. The Pioneers had a penalty inside the Harvard 22 and they took the tap. Harvard defended their line and forced a knock-on. From that scrum they ran, getting a penalty. One more tap and the Crimson fought their way through five more phases and closer to the halfway line. Then a nice, flat pass to Maddie Hubbell put the No. 8 through.
She broke a tackle, beat another defender before galloping 55 meters for a huge momentum-shifting try.
Conversion good and Harvard took a 14-12 lead into the break. Harvard extended their lead when Jojo Mignone sent a long kick that was chased down by Ogoke. She forced a penalty, and off the ensuing lineout the Crimson went wide and for Maya Hilger to dive in.
And then the key play—SHU tried to run out of their own 22, lost the ball, and Sana'a Lunon swooped in to nab the ball and score under the posts.
Up 26-12 with the game ticking away Harvard seemed in control. But Sacred Heart got down to the tryline only for Harvard to hold the line once more. They cleared, but a few minutes later the Pioneers got back there thanks to some smart offloads and continuity. They went wide off a maul and Coyer-Wsterberg was in for her second, this time on a cutback.
Conversion good, and then off the restart Harvard's kick didn't go 10 meters. SHU played the ball, spun it wide, and some excellent interplay between Reese Torticill, who was a terrific setup player all day, and Maria-Jean Paulino.
The wing was tackled, released, and picked up to stretch over.
But that was as close as they would get. Harvard held on, but you have to think that Sacred Heart will be shaking their heads at the three times they were right down on the Harvard tryline and came away with nothing.
Big Finish for Big Green
Dartmouth and Army met up in a clash of 2025 NIRA DI semifinalists, and within a minute Dartmouth had taken the lead.
Working their pods, the Big Green put flanker Katjia Crawford through.
Dartmouth was very powerful in contact and, led by tighthead prop Reece Moody, laid in some thundering tackles.
It was physical defense and pressure that set up an attacking scrum-five for Dartmouth and from there they got a penalty, tapped, and sent the ball out to center Marley Larkin, who was through.
Army somehow settled things after that. Center Yesenia Morales led by example here, and it was Morales who also turned everything around with an interception. But she was called back for being offside.
Still hard runs and quick offloads led to a kickable penalty and the Black Knights nudged closer at 12-3. They had another chance with a break, but the final offload didn't go to hand.
Still it remained close through to the second half.
