CAMBRIDGE, Mass- Harvard women's rugby will play Princeton at Mignone Field on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 1:00 p.m. This is a monumental game for the team as it celebrates the 40th anniversary of women's rugby. The game will be streamed on ESPN+. 

The Harvard-Radcliffe Women's Rugby Football Club was founded in 1982 by Ingrid Jacobsen '83, Coach Mindy Fener, and faculty advisor Paul Erikson. Renamed to Radcliffe Rugby,, the team received more public recognition as the Seven Sisters Women's Collegiate Tournament champions in 1991. HRRFC won two national championships in 1998 and 2011 as a club team.

On August 9, 2012, Harvard Athletics announced women's rugby as the 42nd varsity sport in the institution for the 2013-2014 academic year. Former Nichols Family Director of Athletics Bob Scalise said in the announcement, "we hope our decision will be a catalyst for other schools to follow our lead and consider adding rugby as an intercollegiate sport for women.". 

Harvard set the stage for what is now collegiate women's rugby. In 2015, the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) was founded by eight NCAA member institutions, one of these being Harvard. In 2019, Harvard won their first NIRA National Championship. Additional notable honors include Ivy League 15's Championships (2013, 2018) and Ivy League Sevens Champions (2016, 2017, 2019). 

Shelby Lin ('14), member of the inaugural varsity squad for the 2013-14 season, said "This event is a beautiful celebration of the history, present, and the future of this program! How lucky are we to have such a rich history behind this program - it's important to keep that history excited and engaged to bolster this relatively young Varsity program."

Harvard is excited to welcome alumni from both the women's and men's teams back to Mignone Field to celebrate the occasion. 

WHAT TO KNOW 

• The Crimson have started the season 2-0, while Princeton is 0-3.
• Top three try scorers include Lennox London, Cameron Fields and Chloe Headland. 
• Impact Players from last week included first-year Victoria Stanley (7 carries, 6 defenders beaten, 2 offloads, 2 trys, 130 meters carried), and Tiahna Padilla (6 carries, 3 linebreaks, 5 tackles, 2 trys, 130 meters carried)

UP NEXT

The Harvard women's rugby team will host Sacred Heart University on Friday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.