Brown B-side claims Ivy 7s title with 10-5 win over Dartmouth, caps dominant four-match run
Brown Men’s Rugby closed out the Ivy 7s B-side championship in style Sunday, beating Dartmouth B 10-5 in the final after building an early two-try cushion and then defending it with poise. The decisive stretch came in the opening minutes, when Joe Ashford struck first on a long-range finish and Bertie Deen capped a sweeping team try which put Brown ahead 10-0. From there, the team trusted its defense, made smart tactical choices to run out the clock, and finished a four-match tournament in Cambridge with a title and a statement.
The full day was as dominant as the final scoreline suggests. Brown B went 4-0 and outscored opponents 95-5, scoring 22 tries across the tournament while allowing only one. The opening match set the tone, a 40-0 shutout of Columbia B that was packed with attacking flair. Kaspar Pitblado opened the scoring one minute in off a counterattack sparked by Gavin Vollmer’s offload. Reid Spence followed on a quick-tap penalty at 2:30, Thiago Acuña scored off a counter-ruck turnover at 3:30, and Acuña delivered one of the day’s best moments at 6:00 when Ashford sent a grubber through the line, Acuña chased, kicked the ball ahead from more than 50 meters out, regathered, and dove in. Ashford added a 45-meter interception return, Brown earned a penalty try near the goal line, Garrett Mann broke free from about 70 meters after Hayden Hradek’s setup pass, and Spence finished the shutout after Michael Citarella stripped the ball carrier in a maul.
Brown kept rolling in a 15-0 win over Princeton B. Spence scored first at 2:40 after taking a Thiago Acuña offload, fending off the edge defender, and racing more than 50 meters. Acuña then crossed twice, first off a smooth switch play with Pitblado from a scrum, then by poaching the ball after a textbook Pitblado tackle and sprinting down the sideline from about 35 meters. There was no letup against Harvard B either in a 30-0 result. Bertie Deen finished a flowing sequence started by Pitblado and advanced by Vollmer, Ashford scored on another trademark Pitblado switch, and Brown was awarded a penalty try when a Harvard defender prevented Ashford from gathering a well-placed kick near the line. Spence added another long-range score after Vollmer stripped the ball carrier on a restart, Ashford struck again from scrumhalf on the open side, and Hradek powered over on a close-range pick-and-go.
By the time Brown reached Dartmouth B in the championship match, the pattern was clear. Ashford opened scoring in the final around the three-minute mark, taking a Vollmer offload, beating multiple defenders, and finishing from more than 50 meters out for a 5-0 lead. At 5:40, Brown produced perhaps its most complete try of the tournament, moving the ball from a midfield scrum with every player on the field touching it before Deen finished on the edge off an Ashford pass. Dartmouth answered at 9:30 with a clever behind-the-back pass from a ruck to trim the lead to 10-5, but Brown never let the match slip. The defensive line held, the decision-making stayed sharp, and the closing minutes belonged to a team that had already spent all day dominating the competition.
Several players stood out over the four matches, starting with Acuña, Ashford, and Spence, who each finished the tournament with four tries. Deen scored twice, while Hradek, Pitblado, and Mann each added one. Brown also forced two penalty tries, one on a sequence that likely would have gone to Pitblado and another that came with Ashford bearing down near the line. Just as important were the creators and disruptors around those finishes. Vollmer repeatedly ignited scoring moves with offloads, strips, and turnover work, Pitblado’s tackling and set-play involvement showed up everywhere, and Citarella supplied one of the key takeaways in the opener. Put it all together, and Brown’s B-side did much more than win a title; it controlled the tournament from the first whistle to the final defensive stand.
B-SIDE ROSTER:
Thiago Acuña ‘26, Joe Ashford ‘28, Michael Citarella ‘27, Bertie Deen ‘29, Jack Forgione ‘26, Weston Granholm ‘28, Ed Abel Guobadia G’27, Ittetsu Hoshi ‘29, Hayden Hradek ‘29, Ethan Liew ‘28, Garett Mann ‘26, Jimmy Phelan ‘26, Kaspar Pitblado ‘26, Ben Shirley ‘27, Reid Spence ‘28, Gavin Vollmer ‘29, William Yu ‘28, Tony Zhao ‘26
