The Harvard men's rugby football club got a rude awakening Saturday in Providence, R.I. when Dartmouth ousted the defending-champion Crimson from the first-round of the Ivy League Tournament.

Harvard jumped out a 7-0 lead in the first half, but the Big Green dominated possession for the rest of the game, capitalizing on key Crimson mistakes and penalties. Dartmouth rattled off three penalty kicks en route to a 9-7 victory.

"We kind of let up in the second half," Forwards Captain Chris Geary said. "They were getting most of the calls and spent most of the time in our end, so we were satisfied to just play defensively."

Geary said Harvard's problems were primarly mental. The Crimson, he said, simply failed to get into the flow of the game.

"It's not the kind of loss you can learn from technically," Geary said. "I hope it serves as a wake-up call. Not everyone's been taking practices as seriously as they should. This weekend should shake people out of their doldrums. It evidenced a lack of concentration."

Backs Captain Andrew Pinkerton agreed that the Crimson needs better preparation if the team hopes to win games this spring.

"We weren't really prepared for this game," Pinkerton said. "Everyone was still pretty tired from the spring tour. We need to get together as a team. We also have to have a shift in our mental attitude."

Harvard maintained pressure on Dartmouth throughout the first half, earning a seven-point lead off a try and penalty kick.

Despite the lead, no one on the Crimson was particularly satisfied with the team's performance in the early going. Dropped balls and missed kicks prevented Harvard from padding its cushion even more.

"We spent the first half in their end. But we made some dumb errors. By all rights, the score should have been 18-0," Geary said.

Those mistakes came back to haunt the Crimson in the second. Dartmouth took advantage of the wind and Harvard penalties to keep the pressure on the Crimson throughout the final minutes.

"We sort of lost our edge," Pinkerton said. "They kept us pinned down in our end. When you sustain that much pressure on the other team in rugby, you're going to score."

And score they did. Dartmouth tallied nine straight points to take a 9-7 lead, which Harvard could not overcome despite several late opportunties.

Look Ahead

Harvard does not get much time to prepare before its next match. This weekend, the Crimson plays in the New England Invitational, a perennially tough competition.

"Focus is our main objective this weekend. We have to realize that we have to keep on working," Rugby President Peter November said. "We have to get back the desire we had."