Dartmouth Wins Shutout Against Yale at Homecoming:
Prepares for Northeastern in Boston, Again

by Bombas Taliban

Dartmouth homecoming is always an event to remember—this year was no exception as a crisp Friday evening bonfire led into a strong showing by Dartmouth rugby on Brophy pitch Saturday afternoon. The match kicked off at 1pm as Dartmouth faced Ivy League rivals Yale in the first round of the New England Rugby Football Union playoffs.

Dartmouth came out firing in front of a stellar homecoming crowd that lined the balcony of the new Corey Ford Rugby clubhouse and the hills surrounding Brophy field. The game opened as most Dartmouth rugby games have been lately, with fullback co-captain Andrew Caspary hitting a penalty kick in front of the Yale posts in the 2nd minute of the match. These were the first three of 26 points Caspary would earn off of his boot on the day. Dartmouth was quick to open the try scoring in the 4th minute as center Scott Penner found an overlap after a quick recycle off of a long line break by junior with Aziz Sayigh, making the score 10 – 0. Another penalty kick and another 5 tries would bring the half to a close making the score 48 – 0 with fullback Caspary a perfect 6 for 6 on conversions and 2 for 2 on penalty kicks. Full back Jesse Blom did an excellent job of finding his runners holes in the defense as 10 different Dartmouth ruggers found the tryzone that afternoon. Penner, lock Josh Weinberg, All-American 8-man Joe Killefer, flanker Mark Goodson, and center Paul Huelskamp all had tried in the first half. Huelskamp scored two tries in under two minutes to close out the first half and he also had the opening score in the second half making very quick work of accumulating a hat-trick.

The second half also saw Killefer’s second try and tries by captain Jesse Blom, Aziz Sayigh, wing Jared Hyatt, center Nick Stack, and hooker Alex Tonelli. The final score would be 91 – 0 as Caspary converted 10 of 13 tries with 2 penalties. The game was a great way to start the playoff, but the way the New England playoff system works after an overhaul during this past off season the next rounds promise to be far more challenging. This upcoming weekend the men in green face off against the Northeastern Huskies in a rematch from the first week of the regular season hat saw Dartmouth down Northeastern 17 – 15. Once again Dartmouth will travel down to Boston to face Northeastern on their pitch at 1pm on Saturday. This once again exposes a flaw in the new playoff scheme as Dartmouth maintains the better season record and the higher seed. While the match cannot eliminate either team from the playoffs that will continue with the elite 8 of the Northeast Rugby Union next weekend, The winner will have home field advantage next weekend against The New York State Rugby Union’s number three while the loser will find themselves on the road against the number two team from New York.