Harvard Women's Rugby Earns Dramatic 17-10 Comeback Win Over Princeton

Harvard downed Princeton in a dramatic second half comeback for its second Ivy Conference victory of the season (Gil Talbot).
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts – The Harvard's women's rugby squad earned a dramatic 17-10 victory over Princeton in its final home contest of the season, scoring the tying and go-ahead try in the waning minutes of the game to complete a second half comeback.

Harvard got on the board first as it came away with the ball out of a scrum and Susie Clements found Caitlin Weigel, who dove into the end line for the try to give the Crimson a 5-0 lead three minutes into play.

Princeton responded midway through the opening half, as Jessica Lu sprinted down the right sideline and scored a try for the Tigers to tie the game up at 5-5. Harvard made several pushes toward the end line, but the score remained tied after the opening half of play.

Princeton took a 10-5 lead six minutes into the second half when Gabby Gibbons sprinted towards the end line and tossed it to Andrea Malleo, who touched the ball down to give Princeton its first lead of the game.

"The team did a great job executing the game plan in terms of dominating territory the whole day," said head coach Sue Parker. "We were not doing a good job of maintaining our composure or executing exactly our game plan once we got to the end line, which is why we were behind in the second half."

The Crimson saved its best for last as it tied the game up again with four minutes remaining. Harvard made several furious pushes towards the end line and Clements finished the drive as she touched the ball down to tie the game back up at 10-10.

Harvard struck again minutes later, as Claire Collins downed the final try of the game with less than two minutes remaining to complete the comeback. Clements nailed the conversion attempt as Harvard hung on for the 17-10 victory.

"I think it was a significant improvement in our composure and out trust in one another to come from behind in the second half, come down deep in our attacking territory, execute the game plan and pull the victory really out of the jaws of defeat in the last minutes of the game," said Parker.

Harvard improves to 3-1 on the season and 2-1 in Ivy Conference play and will have a week off before it heads to Dartmouth Oct. 17 for a 1 p.m. matchup.