Women’s Rugby Drops Battle with Harvard

Saturday, September 27

Hanover, N.H.

12:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Harvard

9/27/2025 3:35:00 PM | Women's Rugby

Katie Dowty Postgame Interview

By: Rebecca Osowski

HANOVER, N.H. – On Saturday, Dartmouth women's rugby welcomed the Harvard Crimson to Hanover for a 2024 National Championship rematch.

The Big Green fell behind early but battled back to lead at the half. Harvard made its comeback as time was expiring to beat the Big Green, 36-33.

With the loss, Dartmouth falls to 3-1 on the season and in NIRA play.

Harvard wasted no time getting on the board, scoring its first try just two minutes into play. Just under 11 minutes later, the Crimson capitalized again, scoring a try and a conversion to extend their lead to 12. Harvard added one more try at the 16-minute mark, making it a 17-0 game.

The Big Green offense got on the board at 26:30, when Marley Larkin found the try zone for Dartmouth's first of the game. Annie Henrich made her first conversion of the game from deep and a low angle to make it a ten-point game.

Ten minutes later, Katelyn Walker scored her first try of the game and Henrich made another conversion to cut Harvard's lead to four.

Less than two minutes went by before the Big Green scored again. Walker broke through the Crimson line and ran with space, ultimately setting up Arielle Fotso to put the Big Green ahead. Another Henrich conversion gave Dartmouth a 21-17 lead at the half.

The Big Green had a gameplan, but after falling behind early, the storyline changed Head Coach Katie Dowty said.

"We know we're fit, we know we're fast. We wanted to work early to push the tempo, get our positions to where we need to be," Dowty said. "Instead, it was, do we have the grit and the resilience and the calm when we've dug ourself into a hole like that to play out of it and then continue to score points."

Hear from Head Coach Katie Dowty following today's loss to Harvard.#GoBigGreen | #TheWoods pic.twitter.com/ipUOWc9moG
— Dartmouth Rugby (@DartmouthWRugby) September 27, 2025

Paola Arredondo Almeida opened the scoring in the second half, scoring her first try of the game and fifth of the season. Henrich made her fourth conversion of the game to extend the Big Green lead to 11.

After allowing 26 unanswered points, the Crimson finally got on the board and started their comeback. A try and successful conversion pulled Harvard within four.

Walker made her impact known again, breaking through and crashing into the try zone for her second try of the game and to re-extend Dartmouth's lead to nine.

At the 70^th minute, Harvard once again inched closer, scoring a try to pull them within four. The Crimson maintained possession into extra time, looking to seal the victory.

Dartmouth seemed to have Harvard stuffed on multiple attempts forward, but the Crimson finally found a way through the Big Green defense, scoring a try and conversion to defeat the Big Green, 33-36.

The Big Green and Crimson have an extensive history, including Harvard defeating the Big Green in the past two national championship and Dartmouth defeating Harvard in the championship in 2022-23.

Dowty said her team was ready for a dogfight against the Crimson, but emphasized that with a young and talented team, they are always learning.

"The big overarching thing for us, we're continuing to learn we need to look after the ball a bit better. We tend to put ourselves under a bit more pressure than the opposition in some cases," Dowty said.

Additionally, Dowty noted possession as the focus for her team coming out of Saturday's loss.

"I think we are a team that believe we can score at any moment, and I think we need to strike the balance of being able to play through phases and look after the ball until those home run moments open up for us," Dowty said. "We don't have to force things if we let those phases flow and that'll continue to be the work for us."

The Big Green have next weekend off before returning to action on Homecoming, Saturday, October 11 against Bowdoin. The game is set to begin at 11 a.m.