Princeton women improved to 3-0 in the Ivy League after a hard-fought 31-24 win over Dartmouth (1-2) in Hanover, NH. The Big Green earned two bonus points in the loss, one for scoring four-plus tries and keeping the points differential to seven.

Princeton took a 12-0 lead after 13 minutes. The first try came after USA U20 Eagle and No. 8 Dot Mittow picked from the base of a wheeled scrum, got the ball to flyhalf Lauren Rhode, who dished to wing Devan Kreisberg (5-0). The next score came from prop Abby Hammer, who supported a backs movement and found herself in perfect position for the offload and try. Mittow slotted the conversion.

Dartmouth answered back as inside center Ashley Afranie-Sakyi broke through the line then hit Karoline Walter for the converted try.

"Sometimes a team has a player that can make the team's potential rise," Princeton coach Emil Signes said. "Dartmouth has one such player, Ashley Afranie-Sakyl. Ashley’s special attribute is that once she’s in space and moving forward, almost no one will take her down one on one; she’s fast, strong and built to stay up. We know her, had plans to stop her and often did, but in the end she got two tries and set up a third."

Mittow added a penalty kick after a long goal line attacking series for the 15-7 lead into the break.

Mittow repeated the effort in the second half with another penalty to go up 18-7.

The game could have gotten out of hand, as momentum was in Princeton’s favor, but Dartmouth rallied to eventually take a 24-18 lead. From a quick penalty, scrumhalf Sandi Caalim set up Katie Gulemi for the first try, then Afranie-Sakyi tacked on another after some amazing running lines. The intimidating center kept terrorizing the defense and took advantage of another Princeton penalty for her second try of the day, 24-18 Dartmouth.

Princeton stuck to its kicking game and was able to gain favorable territory thanks to the boot of Rhode. From a five-meter scrum, wing Kristy Giandomenico crossed the line to pull within one point (24-23) then Princeton took the lead when Kreisberg dotted down for her second try of the match, 28-24.

The teams matched each other’s try count with four, but Mittow’s three penalty kicks, the third of which ended the game, proved to be the difference, 31-24.

“It was an amazing game, everyone left it on the field,” Emil Signes said. “It’s one of those game that you coach for. It was a phenomenal game both ways [and] we were delighted to win it."

“Both teams played with a lot of heart, and I am really proud of Dartmouth for competing so ferociously,” Dartmouth coach Deb Archambault said. “At the end of the day, though, Princeton did a better job at the breakdown and managed to create and capitalize on more offensive opportunities than we did, and I give them credit for that."

With one more week to go, all NOVA has to do is beat Albany this Saturday, and they're into the Women’s DI Club Elite 8. NOVA defeated Providence 48-12 on Saturday, while Atlanta downed Albany 54-0.

Three of the four aforementioned teams are vying for the last available seed to nationals (Atlanta already clinched a seed), and NOVA has established itself as the forerunner.

“It was an exciting game,” NOVA coach Brian Walker said. “Providence came out hard and applied a lot of pressure. They were tough, fit and physical. With a playoff spot on the line, we knew they were going to hit us with everything they had.”

NOVA felt well prepared heading into the match, due in much part to assistant coach Dana Creager’s guidance this past week. She focused on integrating the backrow into the backline defense, and also tightened up the backline attack.

“I’d be lying if I said I thought we were going to score eight tries,” Walker said. “We had some early handling errors, but after we settled down, our backs and forwards worked well to support each other and produced some really beautiful rugby.”

The first two tries came out of the forwards, with No. 8 Rosie Daley accounting for the first, and flanker Megan Hanson scoring the first of her two tries. Outside center Mo McQueen dotted down just before the break for the 19-0 lead at half.

“We knew Providence still had the firepower to come back so we made a real effort to ratchet up the pressure,” Walker said. “Luckily we got two tries in the first five minutes after the half to give us a little more cushion.”

Lauren Hoeck made a nice solo run up the middle for the first try, and Hanson picked up her second try after that.  Erica Cavanaugh picked up the next two tries with hard runs down the right wing, which put NOVA up 41-0 with about 20 minutes remaining.

Providence never backed down, and in the course of about 10 minutes, fullback Dana Ayoub ran in two long-range tries and added a conversion.

NOVA had the final word of the day, as center Emily Blease scored the final try at the whistle. Walker acknowledged center Amber Benlian and prop Kaitlin Joerger as the game’s MVPs.

“We took a big step forward with the win, but we aren't in the playoffs yet,” Walker said. “We still have to beat Albany next week in order to clinch, which means we have to go back to work on Tuesday and prepare for yet another tough match.  Albany have done extremely well in their first year in D1, and have shown they are a quality side.  We need to be as focused and prepared for them as we were for Providence.”