Dartmouth Rugby closed out a successful weekend at the Ivy Playoff Tournament in Princeton, NJ Sunday, beating the hometown Princeton Tigers 50-3. As a result of the victory, The Big Green earned the Ivy Rugby Conference’s automatic bid to the national Division I-AA tournament. The team’s 1st round opponent will be Shippensburg and the game will be played at home in Hanover as part of hosting the East Regional of the tournament (along with the Division II playoffs as well) Saturday, April 28th and Sunday, April 29th.

While the home field advantage will certainly help The Big Green in the national playoffs, even more important will be trying to improve on the form they showed on Sunday against the Tigers. The team wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, as freshman hooker Mike McDavid ’15 went in for a try within the first minute of the game to make the score 5-0. While the Tigers would prove sturdier as the 1st half progressed, they couldn’t completely stifle the Dartmouth attack. Captain and No. 8 Paul Jarvis ‘12 would be the next to score, extending the lead to 10-0.

Yet even after the second score, the home team refused to back down. They would begin to mount a counterattack, moving the ball downfield until they were able to convert on a penalty attempt to make the score 10-3. With their defense proving resilient and keeping Dartmouth from scoring, it seemed like they might head into halftime with the momentum. But unfortunately for them, the final minutes before the intermission would prove their undoing. First Lock Nate Brakeley ’13 would take a turnover ball in for a score to make the lead 15-3, then only a few minutes later fullback Madison Hughes ’15 would add another try, bringing the lead to 22-3 after he made the subsequent conversion. Dartmouth would never look back.

The Big Green kept adding on the points and stifling their opponent’s offense in the 2nd half. Center Derek Fish ’12 would be the first to score after the break, making the lead 29-3. Wing Kevin Clark ’14 would be the next, followed by another score from Jarvis to make the score 43-3. Center Ryan Milligan ’12 would score the last try on the day, which when coupled with another Hughes conversion brought the final score to 50-3.

With the victory, Dartmouth will now turn its attention to the national playoffs. Games will kick off at 9 am on both days and feature four games between the two divisions. The Big Green will first take the field for their game versus Shippensburg at 1 pm on Saturday, April 28th (a complete schedule for the weekend can be found at the bottom of this press release). All games will be played at the Corey Ford Rugby Clubhouse, located at 9 River Road in Hanover, 1.8 miles north of the Hanover Inn, just off of Lyme Road. Admission will be free to the public. If The Big Green can get through the weekend without a loss, they’ll advance to the final four May 18-19th in Rio Tinto stadium in Sandy, UT.

Emirates Airline USA Rugby Men’s DI-AA & DII College Round of 16
Saturday April 28 | Brophy Field

Colgate v. Bentley | DII Men’s College Playoff | 9 a.m. Eastern
Boston University v. Towson| DII Men’s College Playoff | 11 a.m. Eastern
Dartmouth v. Shippensburg | DI-AA Men’s College Playoff | 1 p.m. Eastern
Northeastern v. Stony Brook | DI-AA Men’s College Playoff | 3 p.m. Eastern

Emirates Airline USA Rugby Men’s DI-AA & DII College Round of Eight
Sunday April 29 | Brophy Field

DII Men’s College Consolation (losers from day one) | 9 a.m. Eastern
DII Men’s College National Quarterfinal (winners from day one) | 11 a.m. Eastern
DI-AA Men’s College Consolation (losers from day one) | 1 p.m. Eastern
DI-AA Men’s College National Quarterfinal (winners from day one) | 3 p.m. Eastern