UMW bested an excellent Dartmouth team in the D1AA national championship in Fullerton, CA 38-30.

In a back and forth game UMW featured 3 try's from junior wing Jordan Sacks , a try from junior flyhalf Harry Masters, and a well worked pack try from junior Matthew Gordon to beat Dartmouth in the heat with a big second half.

UMW played far from a perfect game but excellent kicking from senior Justin Ford, defense and stout tackling when it counted and ball control carried the day for UMW.

Dartmouth was far from a pushover, and made UMW pay for their mistakes and 2 energy-sapping yellow cards. At one point UMW trailed 16-7 in the first half and not a lot was going right. An excellent run by freshman Bradlee Nicholls and some ground gained by man of the match Matthew Gordon helped set up Sacks for his second try to close the gap to 16-14.

UMW's pack burned up the clock, and wore out Dartmouth in the second half with disciplined play. UMW back were steady and the two try's by Masters got UMW the space they needed to survive a late two try's by Dartmouth.

Final UMW 38 Dartmouth 30. UMW finished the season 14-0 vs D1AA competition in the 2017-2018 competition and for the year 22-1 vs all college competition (the only loss being to Navy in March).