Dartmouth Advances to Elite 8

Photo courtesy of MobileScore

The Dartmouth Rugby Football Club stormed the pitch on a damp afternoon at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, NY today and came away with a 40 - 20 victory over Ohio State University in the USA Rugby Championship Round of 16. The victory earned the Dartmouth men a trip to the Elite 8 tomorrow against Pennsylvania State University.

The Dartmouth offense got off to a quick start as flanker Mark Goodson found a gap and the try zone in the 2nd minute. For a stretch the two teams continued to feel out each other's defenses, but in the 18th minute center Aziz Sayigh widened the gap to 12 - 0. For the remainder of the half, Dartmouth posted 3 penalty kicks off of the boot of fullback Andrew Caspary while Ohio State split the uprights twice to make the score 21 - 6 at the half.

The Dartmouth team came out of half time with guns blazing once again as Sayigh found the try zone for the second time in the 42nd minute after a 20 meter line break by flanker Henry Tarmy-Caspary made good with the points widening the gap to 28 - 6. In the 50th minute, open phase play got the ball to lock Anthony Gargiulo who stormed through the Ohio State defense for the try, making the score 35 - 6. After Dartmouth stole an OSU scrum in the 65th minute, Goodson found the try zone again to finish the Dartmouth tally at 40. Ohio State was able to punch in two tries in the closing minutes of the match to bring the match to the 40 - 20 final.

The team looks forward to the match tomorrow against Penn State at 1pm on the main pitch at West Point where the winner will go on to the Final Four in Stanford, CA May 5th and 6th. After the match, the team will be hosting a reception in Eisenhower Hall for the team and staff, parents, and any DRFC alums and supporters. For directions to the pitch and details about tomorrow's match go to http://www.armyrfc.com/. We hope to see you tomorrow.

Tom Monahan
DRFC Secretary