The Harvard women's rugby team didn't defend its Ivy title, but did enough to capture third place.

Although the Harvard women’s rugby team fell short of its second consecutive Ivy League title, the squad did do enough to outperform its fourth-place seeding at the Ivy League Championships this weekend. After losing to Brown (8-0, 7-0 Ivy) in the semifinals on Saturday, the Crimson (4-4, 4-3) battled back to defeat Princeton (3-4) and earn a third-place finish.

HARVARD 22, PRINCETON 15

Crimson co-captain Kaleigh Henry broke out of a scrum inside the 10 and scored a try to break a 5-5 tie and give Harvard its first lead of the tournament. The Crimson never looked back, building a 22-10 lead over the Tigers in the first half and holding on to take the game, 22-15.

“We knew that we could take the things we didn’t bring out on the field during the Brown game and put all of our effort into this game,” co-captain Brooke Kantor said. “Princeton beat us before in the regular season, so to come out here and to demonstrate to them that we are the team with better skills and more teamwork I think sends a message.”

The Tigers jumped to an early 5-0 lead over Harvard with a try in the first three minutes of the game. But the Crimson responded with 17 unanswered points on the try by Henry and a pair of tries by sophomore inside center Claire Collins.

After Princeton responded with a try of its own, Harvard junior co-captain Hope Schwartz, who is also a Crimson sports editor, scored a try that gave the Crimson a 12-point lead going into halftime.

In Harvard’s regular season contest against Princeton, the Crimson surrendered 19 second-half points, which cost the team its lead and the game. In this one, Harvard held the Tigers to just one second-half try, and defended its 22-15 lead through the final whistle.

BROWN 27, HARVARD 5

The Crimson scored its only try in the final moments of the game to match the Bears’ second-half scoring total. But a 22-0 deficit in the first half doomed the Crimson and its chances of winning back-to-back championships.

“The team fought with more ferocity and courage than I’ve seen them fight all season long,” Harvard coach Sue Parker said. “We were just out-gunned by a team that was substantially bigger than we were.”

Although the Crimson set the pace for the first 10 minutes of the game, the team failed to score. At the 20-minute mark, a penalty called against Schwartz put the already size-disadvantaged Harvard at a player disadvantage as well.

Brown capitalized. Bears’ junior outside center Saskia Morgan used her speed to break the scoreless tie. A successful conversion by sophomore fly-half Sofia Rudin gave Brown a 7-0 advantage.

The Crimson also lost its regular season match with the Bears when it was outnumbered. After an injury late in the second half put Harvard at a player disadvantage, the Crimson surrendered two tries and the lead in the final 10 minutes of play.

Brown continued to dominate the rest of the first half. Senior prop Elisa Miles carried the ball downfield and set up junior wing Jasmine McAdams for a try. Within 10 minutes, the Bears pushed the scrum into the try zone to take a 17-0 lead.

In the final minutes of the first half, Brown struck again. Sophomore inside center Oksana Goretaya made a run and passed the ball to Morgan, who scored her second try of the day to give the Bears a decisive 22-0 lead going into halftime.

Morgan powered Brown’s offense, scoring three tries in the game. Morgan added another three tries in the Ivy Championship game to lead the Bears to a 42-5 victory over Dartmouth.

Morgan continued to cause problems for Harvard at the start of the second half, racing her way to her third try of the contest and the Bears’ largest lead of the afternoon, 27-0.

In the final drive of the game, the Crimson willed its way onto the scoreboard with a try by Collins, her first of three in the tournament.  

“With the exception of the 20 minutes in the first half, 10 of which we were down a player, the game was completely even,” Parker said. “With the exception of those 20 minutes, it was absolutely our best performance of the season.”

—Staff writer Eileen Storey can be reached at eileen.storey@thecrimson.com.