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{shortcode-8c0dd475ea3269f67b1a4d37d27db5cc232a1fc2}hen Harvard women’s rugby players faced off against Dartmouth at Hanover, NH in an effort to defend their national title, they weren’t the only female athletes wearing Crimson on the sidelines.

A few women’s soccer players made the trip up to Hanover to cheer for the rugby team, prepared with drums and confetti launchers.

As rugby clinched the victory, Reese Morgan said the women erupted with support. They banged their drums and shot the confetti launchers, covering the Dartmouth field in “red smoke.”

Morgan said the support she’s received from other female athletes has been integral to her team’s success and her experience at Harvard.

“The Harvard female student athlete community is really special. I am really fortunate to have some really great friends across a lot of teams,” the captain said.

Harvard’s women’s athletic teams have found great successes across the board over the past year, with field hockey making its second straight NCAA Elite Eight finish, the water polo team picking up its first-ever CWPA Championship, women’s basketball appearing in March Madness, and more.

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“We are deeply proud of the extraordinary achievements of our women’s teams, as we are of those of our men’s teams,” Athletic Director Erin McDermott wrote in a statement. “This year has been especially historic for the women, with standout performances across a wide range of sports.”

Nationally, women’s sports — which have often been ignored or targets of ridicule — have exploded in popularity. Women’s college basketball, for instance, saw a 41 percent increase in viewership on ESPN in 2023-2024, marking its most-watched season in history.

National energy for women’s sports has translated at Harvard. As Harvard’s women’s teams continue to seek out mainstream recognition, they’ve built a network between teams to provide an assist.

For sophomore Serafina Cortez, a member of the water polo team, this web of appreciation from female athletes boosts Harvard’s women’s teams towards success.

“It really means a lot to have support from other women athletes,” Cortez said. “It reinforces that we’re all working toward the same goals in our respective sports.”

“There’s a really special bond between women’s teams,” she added.

Support Within the Team

Harvard’s women’s water polo team was a squad of just 15 athletes entering its spring season — about half the size of many teams in their conference.

But that wasn’t a problem, according to sophomore Lily Britt. Britt said the team got closer than usual throughout the season with fewer women in the water.

“We are very close outside of the water and inside of the water,” Britt said. “We’re a small group of women with very similar goals as a team and for each other as individuals, and I think it brought us a lot of strength in the pool.”

The women’s rugby team created a term for the closeness and support it fosters throughout its season. The 2024 NIRA champions use the phrase “RadLove” to describe the unity and trust that the team promotes and to recognize the history of women’s sports at Radcliffe.

“It reminds us of who came before us and what they fought for in order to give us what we have now,” senior Chloe Headland said. “Rugby is such a physically grueling sport, so embracing RadLove kind of keeps us locked in because no matter what happens, there are 30 other women doing it with you.”

Junior Mfoniso Andrew, who will serve her second year as captain of the track team next year, said her team also relies on strong support systems. The team also aims to dissolve social barriers between participants on different events by scheduling hangouts.

“It’s good because cross country distance, track and field, sprinters, throwers, and jumpers don’t always interact with each other,” Andrew explained. “We did that to figure out one way each teammate likes to be supported.”

Part of looking out for each other, Andrew said, comes from showing up to the track even when athletes themselves are not competing. Given the individual nature of track, Andrew said it becomes even more important to make an effort to be there for others across different events.

‘Women Supporting Women’

Many athletes said that celebrating each other is not restricted to their own arenas. Female athletes at Harvard said they found it easy to connect with their peers on other sports teams through a shared college experience — which has brought them to support other women’s sports as a result.

When the women’s water polo team was headed to their conference championship — a critical moment for the team’s season and its legacy — Cortez said the team received a letter from the women’s swim and dive team, with whom they share pool space.

“Keep writing your story. One step, one play at a time. Hand in hand, show them what Crimson grit looks like. And remember the game isn’t over till it’s over,” the note read.

Cortez said that the letter was “motivating” as the team entered the end of its conference play, where it ultimately secured the historic victory.

But it wasn’t just swim and dive. Cortez said that members of the women’s basketball team were consistent fans of water polo, just as water polo had been during its season.

Before the basketball team headed off to the first round of March Madness, the water polo team gathered together and filmed a video telling the basketball team to “believe it” — the basketball team’s motto to manifest victory.

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When water polo later had its championship game, players on the women’s basketball team returned the favor, showing up at water polo’s final matchup at Brown University with posters and signs. Some of the women who were unable to go in person made a video to reciprocate water polo’s encouragement.

With peers and other athletes supporting them, multiple athletes felt an overall increase in attention towards their sports in the past year. Gabby Anderson, a junior on the women’s basketball team, said this year showed her that more people cared about Harvard basketball than she had previously thought — with a video of support from the water polo team and a watch party for their March Madness game at Harvard Law School.

“It was just really nice to be acknowledged this year and feel very supported,” Anderson said.

That mutual support is something multiple athletes said was crucial to their athletic experience this year. Ruby Hodge, a junior on the women’s rugby team, said that as Harvard’s women’s sports teams took home more accolades this past year, their investment in each other’s success only increased.

Hodge said this year marks “one of the first few times” she’s seen female athletes so outwardly empower their peers — and the “most support” she’s seen across Harvard’s teams in her three years at the College.

For Anderson, that increased level of support should be a given with the overwhelming success of Harvard’s women’s teams. She said her peers on other women’s teams see things the same way.

“If we’re being completely honest, our women’s sports are better, and frankly, I think we support each other through that, because we know we’re really good and it’s fun,” Anderson said.

“Women supporting women, especially in sports, is amazing,” she added.

The Fight Ahead

Despite the success and support across women’s teams at Harvard, female athletes say there is still room to grow in creating visibility for women’s sports.

Morgan, the rugby senior, said that while Harvard athletics and its athletes have made concerted efforts to focus on highlighting women’s sports, there’s always room for improvement. Morgan cited increased success of Harvard’s teams this year, adding that “there’s a lot of work to be done to continue highlighting them and making them feel supported in the way that they should.”

Some athletes said their teams have faced challenges with gaining attention while competing on less “mainstream” teams or overlapping with other larger teams’ seasons.

Despite Harvard Athletics’ efforts to bolster women’s sports, they still face a universal challenge as many teams struggle to compete against the more established brand of men’s athletics. At a school as old as Harvard — where women’s sports were separated from the College until 50 years ago — it’s a battle that female athletes are still fighting for their teams.

Headland said the rugby team has faced particular challenges in a season overlapping with football. The rugby team plays 15s in the fall, and its matches are often scheduled on Saturdays during football games.

When the team hosted the 2023 NIRA title game at home, the rest of the Harvard community was in New Haven, watching the 139th rendition of The Game. Knowing that Crimson fans would be reluctant to miss the historic football rivalry, the team attempted to change the date and time of the contest, but its efforts were unsuccessful given game schedules are organized by each sport’s governing association.

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“We are forgotten about compared to football,” Headland said. “I do hope moving forward, this changes and rugby gets the recognition it deserves. We won back-to-back National Championships, and it is hardly published. Very few people hear our story, and I would love to see this change for future players.”

Still, athletes see Harvard’s teams’ successes this past year as a strong step towards gaining traction for women’s sports at the College.

Junior Sage Piekarski said that field hockey’s consecutive successes have given its athletes a chance to publicize the sport to younger athletes.

“Having that opportunity to inspire the next generation of athletes is an honor,” Piekarski said.

As Harvard’s female athletes continue seeking out success, athletes hope they will find new ways to uplift each other and find support from the Harvard community.

Though Harvard’s women’s teams have been met with consistent victories in the past year, Cortez said she hopes that other athletes continue to empower each other during teams’ less decorated seasons — which she said made a huge difference for her team this year.

“I think it’s super easy to know what’s going on and support teams, especially when they're doing well,” Cortez said.

“But at the beginning, consistently being there for each other,” she added, “that made the support at the end even more meaningful.”

— Staff writer Elyse C. Goncalves can be reached at elyse.goncalves@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @e1ysegoncalves.

– Staff Writer Isabel C. Smail can be reached at isabel.smail@thecrimson.com.