Harvard, Army, Lindenwood Flex Muscles in NIRA
Harvard, Army, Lindenwood Flex Muscles in NIRA
Harvard remains unbeaten in NIRA DI after an impressive showing over Brown.
After falling behind 3-0 the Crimson exploded for 33 straight points going into halftime, and cruised to a 47-8 win.
Tries from Courtney Taylor and freshman Madelyn Hubbell (her first ever for Harvard), were both converted by Ava Frerence.
Also in the first half A nice break from Amber Van Meines netted her five, and co-captain Charlotte Gilmour capped off a maul to make it 26-0 with another Ference conversion.
Just before halftime Brown was attacking but wing Lennox London added to her all-time-leading try total with an interception and long race to the tryline. Ference again converted and it was 33-3.
Brown once again started the scoring in the half after the break, but Harvard responded with a try from Neasa McLaughlin (converted by Skylar Jordan) and another from breakout sensation Sana'a Lunon, scoring her sixth try three games, with Jordan's conversion capping it off.
Harvard is 2-0 in divisional play and also has a win over AIC. But it doesn't get any easier as they have Army and Dartmouth, both on the road, over the next two weeks.
Army, for their part, looked very good in a 75-0 shutout win over Queens University Charlotte, played in neutral territory at the US Naval Academy. Defensive pressure led the way for the Black Knights as they pinned Queens in their 22 and eventually forced a holding-on penalty. Army tapped quick and spun it wide to lock Natalia Johnson, who crashed over.
Army played fast and on penalties they repeatedly took the tap. No. 8 Cecilia Ollis tapped quickly on one penalty, made big gains. Queens held on but eventually from a scrum Ollis powered over from an eightman pick to score Army's second. Ollis had another eightman pick from deep in her half. She set up a superb team try that ended with some snappy offloads and connections from flyhalf Alissa Eisenhart to hooker Katelyn Woenker to center Yesenia Morales to flanker TyraSoleil Rongdahl and she finished it off.
Eisenhart slotted the conversion and in fact by halftime was a perfect six-for-six on kicks. Scrumhalf Chloe de Leon scampered through on a quick pickup after a massive run from prop Stevie-Rae Ricklick, and Morales then scored on a huge break and Woenker charged over to make it, with Eisenhart's kicks, 42-0 at the break.
In the second half, Queens got a bit more territory but Army was dominant. Molly Kennedy scored early in the second half—Eisenhart finally missed one—and de Leon, Cassidy Ball (twice), and Kennedy again finished it off. The tight five of Ricklick, WoenkerTatiana Stockbower, Johnson, and Ellie Kearny led the way in this win.
"The team were hungry for a full 80 minutes today and delivered," said Head Coach Jenn Salomon-Clayton. "Our forwards dominated up front.
"We left Lindenwood with key takeaways to work on and you can see how it's being built each week. I'm pleased with how it's all coming together, but there's still work to be done. Ready to keep building on this momentum."
Navy, oddly, were not at that game as they were in Missouri to play Lindenwood. In that match, the Lions took control early, handling contact well and making offoads. Quick to go wide Lindenwood was able to send Madison Jersey through for a try. Lock Brianna Beatth was a powerhouse on the day and her breaks helped set up the next couple of tries. Jersey got one of those, and prop Keilikki Nau got the other.
A stolen lineout and smart response set up Lindenwood's next with Ava Reuter charging over. Reuther and Beath combined for another, and then a brilliant break from Amy Brice saw her connect to Jersey and then get the return pass.
At halftime it was 36-0. For much of the second half things slowed down on the scoreboard. Lindenwood had some chances but little mistakes killed those opportunities. Navy battled on and scrumhalf Aleksandria Gabbard sniped over. Lock Mia Young raced in for another before hooker Lucía del Campo setting up Beath.
The final minutes saw Lindenwood able to pull away and take the game 64-17.
"It was great to get a good run-out," said Lindenwood Head Coach Trevor Locke, who noted that it was quite hot in St. Charles and that affected both teams, and probably was why the pace of the game slowed in the second half. "We were able to dig our way out and continue a good showing and finish the game. I think we were strong in the contact area today both at the breakdown and carrying. We will look to continue those efforts moving forward into our double-match weekend."
Lindenwood travels east next week to face Quinnipiac on Friday and Princeton on Sunday.
Speaking of Quinnipiac, the Bobcats defeated Long Island 65-33.
Delilah Staberg scored three tries to pace the Bobcats while Layla Cox, Reagan Perez, and Anna Wright all scored twice, and Gabrielle Appiah crossed over, also.
The key sequence for Quinnipiac was just before halftime to 50 minutes, when tries from Appiah, Cox, Perez, and Wright turned a tense 24-14 game into a 48-14 lead. LIU scored twice after that but there was too much to do.
So while we don't have the Power Rankings for the NIRA DI yet, we do have a bit of an idea of where they rank.
Here are the won-loss and points for-against for the teams so far. Note that we don't tiebreak teams based solely on points difference because Harvard has beaten Lindenwood, who beat Army, and right now it seems like Harvard is the form side.
| NIRA DI Unofficial Stacking | W | L | T | PA | PA | PD |
| Harvard | 2 | 0 | 0 | 73 | 25 | 48 |
| Sacred Heart | 2 | 0 | 0 | 136 | 21 | 115 |
| Dartmouth | 2 | 0 | 0 | 111 | 7 | 104 |
| Lindenwood | 2 | 1 | 0 | 115 | 65 | 50 |
| Army | 2 | 1 | 0 | 135 | 34 | 101 |
| Quinnipiac | 2 | 1 | 0 | 98 | 106 | -8 |
| LIU | 1 | 2 | 0 | 87 | 110 | -23 |
| Navy | 1 | 2 | 0 | 82 | 123 | -41 |
| Princeton | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 54 | -47 |
| Brown | 0 | 3 | 0 | 43 | 125 | -82 |
| Queens | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 224 | -217 |
