The Harvard rugby club dropped a close decision to nationally-ranked Dartmouth 23-15 Saturday at Hanover, New Hampshire in front of 300 spectators.

"It was a cracking, good game," Harvard Coach Martyn Kingston said. "A loss, but we lost to the second-ranked team in the country."

Nathan Koenig led the Crimson attack with 11 points on kicks, and now has 28 points for the season, but it wasn't enough as the Crimson lost their second consecutive game.

After the hosts took an early lead, a drop kick by Mike Gibbs cut the edge to 4-3, and a penalty kick by Koenig pulled Harvard to within two, 8-6.

But two consecutive trys by Dartmouth doomed Harvard as the Big Green opened an insurmountable 20-6 lead at the start of the second half.

Harvard answered with Scott Roberts team-leading third try of the year. The Crimson forward pack pushed Dartmouth back, allowing Roberts to fall on the ball. Koenig converted the score, but it was too little, too late.

The two teams traded penalty kicks to close out the scoring.

"A really good game," Co-Captain Ray LaRaja said, "we never gave up."

The Crimson next hosts the New England Championships October 25 and 26. Harvard must win two games on Saturday to secure a berth in the Eastern Championships next spring.

"We are psyched for a hard week of practice," Kingston said, in preparation for the Championships. And of a possible Harvard-Dartmouth rematch, Kingston said, "we know we can beat them. We made a couple of silly defensive mistakes and lost. But we can't dwell on the negative when there was so more much positive."