Saturday afternoon, the women’s rugby team (3-1-1, 1-1 Ivy) took on Harvard (3-0-1, 1-0 Ivy) at home. With the momentum of a three-game win streak at their back, the Bears hoped to beat the Crimson for the first time since 2016. Though the team gave Harvard a hard time, when the clock struck double zeros, Bruno was defeated 18-12.
“We had an incredible defensive effort,” Head Coach Rosalind Chou wrote in a message to The Herald. “The team held Harvard to their fewest points scored this fall 15s season … and this is the closest 15s match we’ve had with Harvard in (nine) years.” Though Chou saw “remarkable improvement” in the team, ultimately, “the slightest mistakes will be punished when you’re up against the defending 15s national champions.”
“Even though we lost, every game is a learning opportunity,” Aziza Alford ’25 wrote in a message to The Herald. “We were proud of the fight we put up against (Harvard) and it was arguably our best fight yet.”
Harvard came out the gate firing on all cylinders. Ten minutes into the game, they capitalized on a Brown turnover and, after stretching the Bears’ defense to its breaking point, exploited a hole in the formation to reach the try zone. Just five minutes later, the Crimson doubled down and marched 60 meters down the right flank to secure their second try and extend their lead to 10.
When Harvard secured an additional three points off a penalty kick halfway through the first period, the Bears’ hopes began to dim. Bruno would need to launch a counter offensive to stay competitive. At this crucial point, the team looked to senior back Akilah Cathey ’25.
Set up by a Brown throw-in, Cathey received the ball 30 meters away from the tryzone. Though five Crimson defenders stood between her and pay dirt, Cathey could not be stopped. Rushing ahead, she split the first two defenders, before facing the third and delivering a vicious truck. Cathey finished the impressive run by out-muscling the last two Crimson defenders who tried desperately to take her down. When the dust settled, the Bears had pulled within striking distance, 13-7.
Though Brown had a brief spark at the end of the first period, Harvard commanded the game at the beginning of the second, taking an early 18-7 lead. Confronted by an aggressive Harvard offense, the Bears needed to redouble their defensive efforts.
“We knew they scored all of their tries on the edge so we made sure to get our defense down packed,” Alford wrote. Defensively, “our goal was to have an 80% tackle rate and we ended up having a 93% tackle rate and shutting them down to the lowest amount of points scored so far in the season.”
After countering Harvard’s attacks, it was time for the Bears’ offense to shine. Emulating their former success, the Bears once more used a throw-in as their set piece. Amidst a crowd of competing bodies, Alford reeled the ball in just outside the tryzone.
Though a pack of Crimson defenders blocked her way, Alford bulldozed ahead. In a show of incredible strength, with the Crimson pushing from the front and the Bears rallying behind Alford and shoving from the back, Bruno’s brawn outweighed Harvard’s power, and Alford wrestled her way across the tryline. After a successful conversion from Murray, Brown was only behind 18-12. A successful try and conversion could win the game.
As the clock wound down, it looked like the Bears could accomplish the comeback. Twice in the last seven minutes, the team found themselves within five meters of the tryzone. Yet both times, the Harvard defensive line held strong, delivering two heartbreaking goalline stands.
“This week we were actually repping out a scenario when we were that close to the goal line and how we’d manage to score,” Chou wrote. “However, in the match, we were not able to replicate what we practiced. We will have to continue to train to be able to make the necessary adjustments and carry with lower body height, more threateningly at the line so we don’t get the ball held up.”
But the Bears have no time to fret over their loss. On Oct. 12, they will face off against Norwich at home at 12 p.m.
“We get to go into this week against Norwich giving many of our younger, more inexperienced players some valuable game time so they can be ready to go into big games,” Chou wrote.
During “the next two matches, we are really focused on building depth, getting on the same page with our defense and attack systems and preparing for the final two league matches against West Point and Dartmouth,” she added. “These next two matches are great opportunities to fine tune some things so we can really peak at the end.”
Lydell Dyer is a Senior Staff Writer for the sports section. A sophomore hailing from Bonn, Germany, Lydell is studying nonfiction English and political science, and if he's not off "making words sound pretty," you can find him lifting heavy circles at the Nelson.
