Harvard Women Take Rugby Title

In their first varsity season, Harvard's women's rugby team won the Ivy League championship.

The Harvard varsity women’s rugby team opened their initial season in style, bagging the Ivy League championship with a 29-0 victory over Dartmouth in the final of the Ancient Eight tourney in Hanover, New Hampshire on November 3.  Only a few months ago, women’s rugby became Harvard’s forty-second varsity sport. Under the leadership of coach Sue Parker, the ruggers compiled a 5-2 record, suffering losses only to Quinnipiac  (39-10) in their first varsity game and to Dartmouth (10-5), their first away opponent.

Yet the resilient ruggers bounced back from the Quinnipiac loss by demolishing Yale, 84-0, at home, and won their final four contests over Brown, Princeton, Brown again (Ivy semifinal), and Dartmouth. The Big Green were seeded first, the Crimson second, in the Ivy tournament, but Harvard kept the Hanover women off the scoreboard in nailing down the title. A measure of Harvard’s dominance is that those four season-closing victories saw them outscoring opponents 153-12. Harvard will compete in the USA Rugby 7s tournament at Texas A&M on November 22 through 24.  

 

You might also like

Springtime with Mass Audubon

Springtime with Mass Audubon

Harvard Goes Dancing

Crimson women’s basketball prepares for the NCAA tournament.

“A Game of Inches”

Harvard women’s basketball prepares for its rematch with Columbia. 

Most popular

Harvard President Responds to Secretary of Education

Alan Garber outlines steps University has taken, emphasizes compliance with the law.

Provocative Politician

South Korea’s Lee Junseok tries to break old binaries.

Jodie Foster at Radcliffe Day 2025

Actress and director discusses her film career and her transformative time at Yale.

Explore More From Current Issue

Harvard Commencement and Alumni Events 2025

Harvard Commencement and Alumni Events 2025

Brief Harvard News Spring 2025

Physician-authors address Commencement and Alumni Day, new School of Education Dean, and more