Big Green Slays the Big Red in Ithaca

Big Green Take First Match of Inaugural Ivy League Season 91‐3 Dartmouth Rugby marked an historic day in college rugby with a big win at Cornell in Ithaca, New York

“It is great the Ivy League has come together,” remarked Cornell Head Coach Tonee LaBar. “When I look back to the history of rugby, I think of the Ivy League… some old school, down‐and‐dirty knuckleheads pounding on each other.

”From the opening whistle, the match was all Dartmouth, with the Big Green racking up 45 first‐half points en route to a 91‐3 drubbing of the Big Red. “I thought we came in well‐conditioned and mentally prepared. The best team just won today,” said LaBar. “We capitalized on a lot of our opportunities,” said Dartmouth co‐captain Sam Edandison ’10.

The Big Green offensive attack was led by the five tries of Sophomore Derek Fish, who scored 41 of Dartmouth’s 91 points. Juniors Chris and Nick Downer also added multiple tries, touching down three and two, respectively. Cornell has improved since last spring. It was good to see that they had put in the work… Today was an historic day and we were glad to be a part of it; we appreciate the competition.” remarked Dartmouth Head Coach Alex Magleby ’00.“We came out fired up, but Dartmouth is a really good team, “ said Cornell co‐captain Carlos Arbelaez’10.

Cornell avoided the shutout with a late penalty kick. Fellow co‐captain Benja Davies ’10 added,“We’re a new team… We made mistakes, but we learn from those mistakes. [Dartmouth] is a strong team and we are going to build from this.”Dartmouth captain Matt Dinger ’10 explained, “It is good to get our first win under our belts… We got alot of guys in today, and that will help as we build our depth and look forward to tomorrow’s match [at Columbia].” “We still need to improve,” added Edandison, “we were slow to the tackle… it always seemed like we were one second late, and that is something we need to fix.”

Players and coaches were mindful of the day’s historic nature, hoping to renew an old tradition within the Ancient Eight. “The Ivy League has high‐level rugby with teams like Dartmouth and Harvard, but the conference will allow improving teams like Cornell, Columbia, and Brown to get to that level too,” said Davies. Arbelaez added, “The new conference will someday produce teams that can compete against teams on the West Coast [like Cal and BYU].”Dartmouth co‐captain Mike DiBenedetto ’10 remarked, “It is a real blessing to play in the first match of the first season of the Ivy League. Hopefully this league will become a model for more traditional conferences in the country.”

Dartmouth will continue play tomorrow at Columbia. “Dartmouth has a very good team,” remarked LaBar, “teams are going to be surprised… they are much better than their current ranking.” 

If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview, please call Taylor Stevenson at (218) 330‐3681 or e‐mail Taylor at taylor [dot] stevensondartmouth [dot] edu