Dartmouth Women 64, Yale 0
The Dartmouth women looked as though they couldn’t quite wake up from their 3 hour nap on the early-Sunday morning bus ride to New Haven. The Elis, on the other hand, were quite ready to take the field, coming out with more intensity and aggression than their visitors, and spending the first 15 minutes of this cross-tier match with most of the possession.
But the Big Green Machine, even when not running on all cylinders, was well-oiled enough to produce offense from all points on the pitch, and well-organized enough to keep Yale out of the try zone despite opportunities created when hard-running Elis #10 Eshe Sherley ‘15 , #1 Captain Ericka Saracho ‘14, and # 9 Nicole Wenger ‘14, capitalized on an unusually complacent DWRC defense.
Dartmouth got 6 of their 10 tries in the first half, and converted 4 of them, for a 38-0 tally. Fullback Diana Wise ’15 and center Audrey Perez ’17 added to their impressive season totals with two tries each before the half time whistle. DWRC prop Yejadai Dunn ’16 slammed another over out wide after a Perez off-load, and #2 Emily Reeves ‘15 dove over the line from the back of a well-managed ruck, adding the inside channel attack to the list of Big Green attack possibilities.
The 4 tries of the second half were split between forwards and backs. #8 Leandra Barrett ’15 and #5 Allison Brouckman ’15 used the 7s skills they acquired during Dartmouth’s “sophomore summer 7s” program for great runs to the try zone up the middle and on the blindside, respectively. Perez added her 3rd try on the day, and Wise, who started the scoring with a blistering run up the touchline, ended it with an 85 meter run up the middle after a Yale penalty kick under the posts, moving through layers of interested tacklers but remaining untouched. 3 of the 4 tries of the second half were converted. Kicker Tatjana Toeldte ’16 put 4 of her 5 attempts through the posts, while kicker Michaela Conway ’15 went 3 for 5.
Also in the second half, several Dartmouth reserves showed mettle, while Yale was able to deliver the ball wider and showcase some exciting footwork and speed by #13 Ashleigh Delemos ’15. Yale, showing promise for the future, finished the match as they had started, once again forcing the DWRC onto their back foot, occupying the Big Green’s red zone and insisting that Dartmouth work hard to keep the shut out intact.