CAMBRIDGE, MA  -- Junior Conrad Hillsheim led a strong defensive effort with several kicks to force the ball into the offensive zone and sophomore Brendan O'Neill added four penalty kicks as the Nazareth Rugby team opened the season with a 19-15 victory over Harvard University Saturday.

"What a way to open the season," said Nazareth Head Coach Taye Daniel-Ayibiowu. "This is a huge win against the oldest collegiate rugby clubs in North America."

O'Neill converted a pair of kicks in the first half as Nazareth (1-0) built a 13-3 lead. The Golden Flyers opened the scoring with an O'Neill kick and pushed the lead to 10-0 as junior Owen Fitzwater bulled his way across the try line for a score and O'Neill added the conversion kick.

Harvard (0-1) scored on a penalty kick to narrow the lead to 10-3 but after a hard tackle by senior Khalil Lynch, the Golden Flyers regained the 10-point lead with another O'Neill kick.

In the second half, Harvard broke a run up the sideline for a try but failed on the conversion to make the score 13-8.

O'Neill added his third kick of the day to boost the lead to 16-8 but the Crimson answered with a try and conversion kick to cut the lead to 16-15.

Late in the game, O'Neill sealed the victory with his fourth kick of the day and Nazareth started the season with the 19-15 win.

"We knew going into this match that it would be a tough battle down to the last seconds," said Daniel-Ayibiowu. "We stuck to our game plan of playing a territory game and putting the ball to the foot and letting our defense win us the game."