Fabric flies at annual Prom Dress Rugby Tournament
Babson emerges victorious as princesses and biblical figures clash in the rain
Deanna Delgado
The MIT Women’s Rugby Team hosted their annual Prom Dress Rugby Tournament Sunday. College rugby teams from around Boston traveled to MIT’s Briggs Field to play the game they love in the best way possible: while wearing prom dresses. In attendance this year were MIT, Brandeis, Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, WPI, and Babson.
As the tournament began and the teams warmed up in the rainy drizzle, I spotted some noteworthy outfits. A few MIT players sported a character theme: Captain Alexa Jaeger ’18 wore a beautiful and long Snow White costume (courtesy of her roommate), Chris Sacha ’19 wore a two piece Esmeralda costume, Meghan I. Cum ’19 wore the dress worn by Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, and Mariana Gomez ’20 wore a dress with The Flash logo across the front.
Brandeis freshman Eli Lovich came dressed as Moses in a shimmering robe. WPI stood out as the only team wearing a consistent uniform: game jerseys with matching red skirts. Across the board, many rugby players wore the most elaborate dresses they could find, and by the end of the day, the dresses were happily ripped to shreds.
Jaeger commented on the weather that day, “There is nothing more fierce than playing rugby in dresses in the rain. It was also really awesome to have so many fans come out to watch us play, even in the rain.”
The players may have been wearing prom dresses, but that did not stop them from playing hard. For MIT, Hansa Srinivasan G outran the opponents’ defense again and again in a dashing tuxedo t-shirt to score fast tries out wide. Sacha, in her rookie season, started each game with amazing drop kicks, allowing MIT to gain lots of ground right from the start. Gomez demonstrated that size is no limitation, stopping opponents twice her size and making a 20-meter run using mean stiff arms to dart through two defenders. In the end, MIT placed third, but that was not the end of MIT's gameplay, as many players had been assisting Brandeis and Wellesley, who each lacked a full squad, in their games. MIT’s Jaeger, Deanna Delgado ’19, and Abby McGee ’20 went so far as to play in the tournament final, a fierce clash between Wellesley and Babson. With a perfect record, Babson swept the tournament, giving the rest of the teams motivation for the fall season.
The Prom Dress 7s tournament was the last tournament of the spring season, and for some, the last tournament before graduation. Jaeger said that “rugby has been a great way to meet people from all over campus and all across majors. The social component of being on a team has been a huge form of stress relief for me over the past for years, in addition to all the physical activity.”
Rookie Sacha added “I’m so glad I decided to give rugby a try, and I can’t think of a better way to have ended my first season.”