Dartmouth, Harvard Win In NIRA
Dartmouth, Harvard Win In NIRA
The National Intercollegiate Rugby Association top tier is almost done with its regular season, with Harvard and Dartmouth winning big this past weekend.
Harvard crushed a struggling Notre Dame College 105-0 to finish the regular season 3-1. Harvard spread the wealth with no player scoring more than two tries—Sofie Fella, Milan Roberts, Erin Wright, and Arianna Romero all getting that brace. Roberts added five conversions for a personal haul of 20 points.
The game wasn't really an indication of much, but Harvard was pretty clinical.
Dartmouth looked strong offensively bt did give up 38 points in beating Quinnipiac 52-38. Idia Inehnsekhien led Dartmouth with two tries.
"We're happy to secure the win and continue building toward the postseason," Dartmouth Head Coach Katie Dowty told Charlotte Brackett at DartmouthSports.com. "A lot of players are growing exponentially with more game experience and we are excited to see what this group can do if we keep increasing our consistency. It was also a beautiful day to celebrate our seniors on homecoming in front of friends, family and alumni."
With one week to go in the regular season, the playoffs are set for the top tier. Army has the tiebreaker over Harvard (head-to-head), and Dartmouth has the tiebreaker over Quinnipiac, so whether Quinnipiac beats Army or loses to Army, it will be 1. Army, 2. Harvard, 3. Dartmouth, and 4. Quinnipiac for the playoffs.
| NIRA Tier I | W | L | T | PF | PA | PD | BT | BL | Pts |
| Army | 3 | 0 | 0 | 150 | 29 | 121 | 3 | 0 | 15 |
| Harvard | 3 | 1 | 0 | 229 | 75 | 154 | 3 | 0 | 15 |
| Dartmouth | 2 | 2 | 0 | 133 | 127 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 11 |
| Quinnipiac | 1 | 2 | 0 | 119 | 136 | -17 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Notre Dame College | 0 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 284 | -264 | 0 | -1 | -1 |
Tier II
The showdown is coming between Queens and and West Chester. Both are 4-0 after Queens held off AIC 33-24, and West Chester squeaked by Mount St. Mary's 15-14 October 5. Queens led 26-7 at halftime but AIC did mount something of a comeback. Autumn Czaplicki scored two tries and Haey Spangler added one for the win. West Chester beat Virginia this past weekend in a non-conference game and the Rams sit 6-0 for the season.
Queens and West Chester face off this weekend. Should West Chester lose, the Rams will have a game against winless Long Island to finish off, and likely then would finish 2nd in the standings. Queens still has 3-1 Brown, and two losses might drop Queens to 3rd. Brown beat Mount St. Mary's 49-7 to secure a top-three spot.
Tier III
Colby-Sawyer sits 3-0 and it looks like the top four will be Colby-Sawyer, Bowdoin, Norwich, and UNE in that oder for the top four.
