September 7 - Friday Night Rugby is back this week with Liberty Conference rivals Dartmouth and Harvard kicking the season off Friday 9:30 p.m. EST at Roberto A. Mignone Field in Cambridge, Mass. 

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Harvard Rugby looks a bit different coming into the new season, with All-American Ryan Santos graduating, and the hiring of the first full-time head coach in the club's 150-year history, Colton Cariaga. The decorated coach looks to bring some of his experience from Life University, his alma mater, where he led the Running Eagles to two 15s national championships and two 7s titles. 

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"I'm really excited to implement different aspects of performance into the program, to be nationally competitive but then, to also really grow our community locally in Boston and nationally," Cariaga said. 

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"It's not something that is going to happen overnight. It's a slow and steady progression that's going to definitely take a season, if not two or three."

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Two players looking to lead the Crimson this season are captain Robbie Owen and president Charlie McCormick. Owen and McCormick play lock and center, respectively. 

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Dartmouth, like Harvard, graduated a talented playmaker in flyhalf Matthew Anticev, picked fifth-overall in the Major League Rugby draft by Rugby ATL. 

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The Big Green are led by second-year head coach Kyle Sumsion, who also serves as the head coach of the USA U20 national team, where he’s assisted by Cariaga, who also serves as the head coach of the USA U23 7s program. Sumsion and Dartmouth spent the summer coaching the U20s in Kenya at the Junior World Trophy. 

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In Dartmouth's first season in the Liberty Conference, they went 4-1-0 with a point differential of +45, finishing fourth in the Liberty Conference Playoffs after a 51-29 loss in the third-place game to Fairfield. Sumsion will rely on his core group to fill the leadership and experience void, including Daniel Locascio, lock Luke Wilson, and center Gabe Riordan, all of whom spent the summer with Sumsion and the U20s. 

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Dartmouth has enjoyed the better of this rivalry in recent years, winning 46-29 last October, but the Big Green are wary of their counterparts.

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"While there will be no lack of emotion from either team, we know we are going to have to be clinical," Sumsion said. "We have to play a very tight and physical game while also being expansive and accurate with the ball."

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Sumsion and Cariaga have an extended history with each other as the two were roommates as players on the 2013 U23 All-American tour in New Zealand. They also shared a room in South America on a trip with the USA Selects a few years ago.

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