Dartmouth Men Clinch Ivy VIIs Title
Dartmouth brought three teams to the Ivy Sevens Championships this weekend and left with all three sides in a celebratory mood. The first and second teams both competed in the top tier of the tournament and both reached the finals.
Dartmouth’s 2nd VII got the opportunity to round out the top tier bracket in place of Penn, who instead competed in, and won, the City Six 7s tournament in Philadelphia to qualify for the CRC at the end of the spring.
Dartmouth’s 1st VII beat Columbia, Harvard, Princeton and Yale without relinquishing any scores on the day. The second squad had a tougher go as they competed against the 1st VII squads from the other Ivies but showed inner strength and fortitude in coming back from a 38-0 defeat at the hands of Brown in their second match to beat Yale 33-10 and Columbia 28-14 to reach the finals, while Brown lost two qualifying matches which knocked them out of the competition.
Rather than playing against each other in a final game and risking injury, the boys received their hardware and celebrated together. Meanwhile, the third squad playing in the B division went undefeated and took home a championship trophy as well.
Wil Chockley ’15 won Man of the Tournament voted on by the referees for his electrifying performances throughout the day including three tries against Harvard, two tries against Princeton, a try against Columbia and two in the semifinals versus Yale. Chockley stated after the day’s matches, “It was great to see all the hard work that we've put in over the last few weeks come together in our performance today.”
Major contributions to the first side also came from captain Madison Hughes ’15, who had his usual standout performance including four tries and several conversions, and John Abraham ’16, a track sprinter converted into sevens player with a few nifty tries of his own.
For the 2nd VII, which started the day beating Cornell 35-0 before losing to Brown and then defeating Yale and Columbia, Brendan Cronin ’15 and Max Parker ’17 stood out with impressive finishing speed. They each dotted down multiple times in the try zone following long runs.
Meanwhile, Will de Chatellus ’16 won Man of the Tournament in the B division for his stellar play for Dartmouth’s 3rd side.
Dartmouth coach Gavin Hickie remarked postgame, “I am very satisfied with the performances of our three teams at Princeton. I think all the players, our athletic trainer Ben Schuler, coaches Chris McCarthy, Todd Thornley and Alex Magleby deserve a lot of credit for the work done during the fall season. The Ivy 7s Championship title is recognition of the work put in by all.”
Hickie added, “We have earned the right to train for another two weeks in preparation for the USA National 7s Championship in Greensboro.”
By winning the Ivy tournament, Dartmouth qualifies for the USA Rugby 2013-14 Emirates Airline Collegiate 7s National Championships to be held in Greensboro, NC on November 23 and 24. In the meantime, the players return to Hanover for two weeks of training in preparation for the great opportunity.
Other Scores
Division—Men 1st VII Pool Play
Dartmouth 26 - Columbia 0
Princeton 7 - Harvard 15
Cornell 0 - Dartmouth B 35
Brown 5 - Yale 7
Princeton 5 - Columbia 19
Dartmouth 54 - Harvard 0
Brown 38 - Dartmouth B 0
Cornell 15 - Yale 19
Dartmouth 47 - Princeton 0
Columbia 21 - Harvard 19
Cornell 19 - Brown 7
Yale 10 - Dartmouth B 33
Division—Men 2nd VII Pool Play
Princeton 5 - Yale 5
Columbia 7 - Dartmouth C 17
Princeton 0 - Columbia 21
Yale 0 - Dartmouth C 33