GRR: West Point Women
The NCAA varsity women's league, NIRA, got their 7s season started at Harvard University Saturday with the Crimson 7s.
Dartmouth held off a West Point 28-18 in a thrilling, action-filled NIRA DI final Saturday night at the US Military Academy.
Paced by a stifling rush defense and two pivotal tries from No. 8 Idia Ihensekhien, the Big Green ran out to an early lead and held on in a back-and-forth match.
The NIRA DI final is Saturday night and features Dartmouth and … Army (?). That’s right, Army.
It’s not that Army wasn’t playing well going into the semifinals, but they had not put themselves in position to be favorites. They finished the regular season 4-2-1, tying Brown (who they beat in OT but the OT didn’t count in NIRA), and losing to Dartmouth and Harvard.
The finals matchups for the NIRA championship weekend are set after a couple of surprises Saturday.
Dartmouth beat Brown as expected, winning 56-5. Lilly Durbin paced the Big Green with four tries while Kristin Bitter added two.
The NIRA playoffs are upon us, with Finals Weekend at West Point set for November 20-21.
Here’s how it’s all looking: