The Dartmouth Sports Weekly 2/12/18

2.12.18

Big Green wins first Dartmouth Carnival since 2010 p. 8

Men’s squash likely to compete in national championship p. 7 Griffith’s Got Stats: Women’s basketball may qualify for Ivy League Tournament p. 6 In home stretch, men’s hockey splits weekend away p. 6 The ins and outs of traveling and accommodations for athletes p. 4–5 The Weekend Roundup p. 2–3 EVAN MORGAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

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The weekend Roundup Compiled by Luke Gitter, Jake Johnson and Andrew Wright

Skiing

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2018

Squash No. 5 men’s squash beat No. 13 Brown University 7-2 on Friday and No. 9 Yale University 6-3 on Sunday. The Big Green started off strong against Brown, with James Bell ’21, Matt Giegerich ’19, co-captain Jack Harvey ’18, co-captain Alvin Heumann ’18 and Sam Supattapone ’21 all winning their first-round matches in quick succession. In the second round, the Big Green went 3-2 against the Bears, with Brian Giegerich ’18, Brandon De Otaduy Nam ’20 and Carson Spahr ’19 coming away with victories, 3-0, 3-0 and 3-1, respectively.

This Sunday, the men celebrated senior day with a 6-3 win over Yale, ending the final regular season before team championships starts in two weeks. Matt Giegerich started the Big Green off strong by winning three straight games 11-8, 11-6 and 11-8 over Yale’s Max Martin, with teammates Harvey and Sam Epley ’19 both winning in four and three games, respectively.

Of the 10 matches played, the Big Green swept

seven of the individual matches.

The men will have a two-week break then travel to Trinity College to play in the men’s national championships.

Women’s squash similarly defeated No. 10 Brown 6-3 on Friday but lost to No. 5 Yale 9-0 on Sunday. The match against the Bears began with victories in the first round from Charis Freiman-Mendel ’19, Ellie Gozigian ’21 and Julia Potter ’20. In the second round, the bottom of the lineup had similar success, with victories from Brynn Bank ’21, Janel Gaube ’18 and Emma Roberts ’19.

In final regular season matchup, the Bulldogs completely swept all of the matches against the Big Green. The closest matches came from Gaube and Potter, who took their matches to five games, but unfortunately, they could not able to capitalize on the momentum.

The women will travel to Harvard University this weekend to play in the women’s team national championships.

EVAN MORGAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Taryn Hunt-Smith ’19 took fourth place in both women’s Nordic races.

For the first time in eight years, the Big Green took home first place over the University of Vermont at the Dartmouth Carnival, winning by 99 points and securing the team win in six of eight events this weekend.

On day one, the Big Green dominated the competition and walked away with three individual wins and team victories in three of four events. Foreste Peterson ’18 won the women’s giant slalom with Claire Thomas ’21 and Kelly Moore ’18 coming in fourth and seventh, respectively. On the men’s side, Tanguy Nef ’20 and Brian McLaughlin ’18 finished in first and second, respectively. In the women’s 5-kilometer classic, Katharine Ogden ’21, Lauren Jortberg ’20, Taryn Hunt-Smith

’19 and Emily Hyde ’19 almost swept the podium, finishing in first, second, fourth and fifth, respectively. Dartmouth went into day two with a 75-point lead over the Catamounts and 147-point lead over Middlebury College.

Ogden, Jortberg and HuntSmith continued to perfor m well going into day two, as they finished first, second and fourth, respectively, in the women’s 10-kilometer freestyle. Callan DeLine ’18 finished second in the men’s 10-kilometer freestyle, followed by Adam Glueck ’21 and Gavin McEwen ’19 in fifth and sixth, respectively.

The Big Green looks ahead to this weekend where it will compete in the Williams College Carnival.

Ray Lu ’18 Editor-in-Chief

2.12.18 Vol. CLXXIV No. 179

Philip Rasansky ’18 Publisher

Kourtney Kawano ’18 Executive Editor

Nathan Albrinck ’20 Samantha Hussey ’20 Evan Morgan ’19 Chris Shim ’18 Sports Editors

Saba Nejad ’18 Tiffany Zhai ’18 Photography Editors

COURTESY OF DOUG AUSTIN

No. 11 women’s squash downed No. 10 Brown University and lost to No. 5 Yale University to cap the season.

TENNIS The men’s tennis team remained a force to be reckoned with as the undefeated season continues with a win over the University of Minnesota 5-2, Rice University 4-0 and Bryant University 4-0. On Friday, as in the six previous matches this season, Dartmouth won the doubles point, winning two of three matches. In the battle between the two nationally ranked teams, No. 19 David Horneffer ’20 and Charlie Broom ’20 beat Minnesota’s No. 26 Matic Spec and Felix Corwin by a score of 6-3.

In singles, Broom dropped his first match, but the Big Green went on to win four of six of the singles matches.

On Sunday, the Big Green beat both Rice and Bryant improving its record to 9-0 for the team’s best start to its spring season since 2007. To start, the Big Green came away with the doubles point after the No. 2 and No. 3 teams defeated its Rice opponents by 6-3. In singles, Peter Conklin ’21, Dan Martin ’21 and Ciro Riccardi ’18 won their matches. Later that day, the Big Green swept all three of the doubles matches to secure the doubles point and Conklin, Horneffer and John Speicher ’21 swept all three completed singles matches.

In hopes of continuing its streak, the men will head to New Haven this weekend for the three-

day Eastern College Athletic Conference Indoor Championship.

This past weekend, the women played in the ECAC Championship and finished second, falling to Princeton University in the final. The No. 2 seeded Big Green took down No. 7 Columbia University in the semifinals of the ECAC Championship on Friday, winning by a score of 4-1. The women swept two of the doubles matches to win the doubles point, and three of four completed singles matches led by Abigail Chiu ’21, Chuyang Guan ’20 and Racquel Lyn ’20. The following day, in the semifinal match, the women defeated Cornell University 4-1.

Despite Lyn and co-captain Kristina Mathis ’18 winning their doubles match, the Big Red picked up the doubles point after sweeping the other two matches. Regardless, the Big Green swept all four of the completed singles matches to advance to the finals.

On Sunday, the Tigers proved to be too dominant for the Big Green as they swept all but one completed match in both the doubles and singles matchups.

The exception was Guan’s single where she defeated Princeton’s Tiffany Chen 6-3 and 6-2.

The women will have a two-week break and prepare to play Duke University on Feb. 25.

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ICE HOCKEY

TIFFANY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The women’s hockey team, 11th in the conference, tied its last two home games of the 2018 season.

The men’s team handily defeated Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 7-3 on Friday night. RPI scored first, but this lead was quickly erased with the efforts of Will Graber ’20, who scored two goals in the first period with the assistance of Quin Foreman ’21, River Rymsha ’18 and Shane Sellar ’20. Graber followed up in the second with his third goal, assisted by Sellar, who followed with two of his own goals in the second period assisted by Foreman, Graber and Jamie McLaughlin ’20. Collin Rutherford ’21 and Cam Strong ’20 scored the remaining goals for the Big Green, with Graber and Sellar both finishing with the first five-point night for Dartmouth men’s hockey players since 2010.

Dartmouth found much less success on Saturday against Union College with a 2-1 loss.

Coming off of the previous night’s win, the Big Green may have been a little tired of scoring, converting on just one of 36 shots all night. The team stayed in the game until the end thanks to tough defense and 14 team blocked shots.

Goalie Adrian Clark ’20 saw 20 shots get past the defense; he had a 90 percent save rate on the night.

The men, now 10-13-2 overall and 8-9-1 in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference, will continue play this weekend as they host Clarkson University and St. Lawrence University.

The women’s team faced RPI as well on

Friday, finishing in overtime with a 1-1 tie.

Dartmouth’s lone goal of the night was scored in the second period by Tess Bracken ’19, assisted

by Megan Cornell ’21 and Sabrina Huett ’20.

The Engineers equalized three minutes later.

Goalie Christine Honor ’19 preserved the tie in overtime despite a 5-1 shot on goal differential in favor of the Engineers, finishing the game with 42 saves in total.

The team had another nail-biter against Union on Saturday, sending the game into overtime before concluding senior night in a 2-2 tie. While Union was the first to score in the second period, Alyssa Baker ’19 responded a few minutes later, with a goal off an assist by Kate Landers ’19 and Linda Essery ’21. Late into the third period the Big Green was down by one goal and co-captain Hailey Noronha ’18 netted the tying goal in the third period, assisted by Bracken to send the game into overtime.

The highlight of senior night for all of the players took place at the outset of the match.

Brooke Ahbe ’18, who was forced to retire at the end of the 2016-2017 season due to struggles with concussions, found herself in the spotlight one final time. The team wanted to let her finish her career with one final shift, so Ahbe took the first shift of the game at left wing.

The women will close the season out this weekend against Clarkson and St. Lawrence.

TRack and field

The women’s and men’s track and field teams split up this weekend, with some athletes competing in the Fastrack Invitational in Staten Island on Friday and others competing in the Valentine’s Invitational in Boston on Saturday.

In the Fastrack Invitational on Friday, Ethan Ruh ’20 finished third overall in shot put with a throw of 15.55 meters, a little more than two meters shorter than first-place Texas A&M University-Kingsville’s Richard Cervantes’ mark. In the men’s long jump, Ben Colello ’18 and Matthew Sindelar ’18 finished with jumps of 6.19m and 6.00m, taking fifth and seventh, respectively, in their flight, and 35th and 40th overall.

On the women’s side, Kayla Gilding ’19 and Danielle Okonta ’20 took sixth and 11th in the

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

400-meter dash with times of 58.08 seconds and 58.62s, respectively. Cha’Mia Rothwell ’20 tied her own school record with a time of 8.30s in the 60-meter hurdles to take first and won the 200-meter dash in 24.07s. Julia Valenti ’20 finished first in the pole vault, clearing 3.90m.

At the Valentine’s Invitational in Boston with equally impressive results. Zachary Plante ’18 finished 15th in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:05.71. Pat Gregory ’18 and Miles Irish ’18 finished 22nd and 29th, respectively, in the mile in a pool of over 350 entries. On the women’s side, Claire Dougherty ’20 took sixth in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:15.44.

Georgia Fear ’20 and Lauren Archer ’20 took 15th and 16th, respectively, in the 1,000-meter run.

Basketball The men’s basketball team lost a heartbreaker on Friday against the University of Pennsylvania 64-61, but earned its first conference win of the season against Princeton University 72-56 on Saturday.

Going into the half of the game against Penn, the two teams were relatively evenly matched, with the Quakers holding a mere 27-24 lead. Offensively, Penn fared better than the Big Green. Dartmouth only made eight of 37 field goals in the first half, but boasted a perfect shooting percentage from the foul line. Dartmouth held a six-point lead near the end of the first half, but this was erased by Penn’s 11-2 scoring run in the last 3:44. Led

by Will Emery ’20’s 14 points and 12 rebounds and co-captain Miles Wright ’18’s 16 points, the Big Green was able to stay within reach for most of the game. However, the men fell short at the end, despite scoring the same number of points in the second half as Penn did, On Saturday, however, things went very differently for the Big Green. Led by Taylor Johnson ’18’s 21 points and Adrease Jackson ’21’s 16 points, the Big Green throttled Princeton 72-56, marking the first win for the team in 2018. In the first half, the Dartmouth defense shut down Princeton’s conference leading three-point percentage, while the Big Green’s offense matched that of the Tigers, coming into the midpoint of the game down 26-25. In the second half, however, the Dartmouth offense dominated, shooting 14 of 25 on field goals and five of eight on three pointers.

The men will look to build upon

Saturday’s success this weekend at home as they host Yale University on Friday and Brown University on Saturday.

The women’s basketball team faced similar difficulties in its games against Penn and Princeton falling to the Quakers 65-47 on Friday and to the Tigers 82-63 on Saturday.

Scoring in the first half was slow for the Big Green in Friday’s game, with only nine of the 30 shots taken by the team going in. This, combined with good shooting by the Quakers, meant that Penn entered halftime with a 14-point lead, which was further extended with a 6-0 run to start the second. Going into the final few seconds of the game, the Big Green managed to get within 18 points of Penn but could not get closer. Dartmouth’s scoring was led

by Annie McKenna ’20 with nine points followed by Kate Letkewicz ’18’s eight and Isalys Quiñones ‘19’s seven.

The women also fell to Princeton, bringing the team to 12-9 overall and 4-4 in conference play. The Big Green improved quite a bit in its offensive game and was led by co-captain Emily Slagle ’18 who contributed 18 points with Letkewicz adding another 12. The women struggled to get going as the Tigers outscored the Big Green eight to 22 in the first period and in the second half. However, the women shot a respectable 75 percent from the free throw line.

The women will look to close out regular season play leading up to the Ivy League Tournament this weekend when it plays Yale and Brown.

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The wheels on the bus: the ins and outs o

The Dartmouth talks to members of Big Green teams about t

By SABA

The Dartm

While travel is a major component of every Dartmouth team’s season, the time spent on the road and the accommodations athletes receive differs among teams.

Away Games A s i d e f ro m t h e Maribel Sanchez Souther Invitational that Dartmouth hosted, men’s and women’s cross country travel fo r t h e re m a i n i n g regular season meets in 2017. Due to the fact that the men race 8-kilometer or 10-kilometer courses and the women run 5-kilometer or 6-kilometer courses, runners need time between meets to recover.

Depending on how far the meet is from Hanover, the cross-country teams leave campus the day of, the day before or multiple days in advance. Most of the 2017 meets were held on the East Coast, but both teams traveled to Kentucky for NCAA meets. This required a longer time for travel.

“It’s not always ideal to spend the entire day traveling to get somewhere far away and then run ... so if it’s really far away, we might budget two days for travel and either go half-way the first day and half-way the second day or all the way the first day and be a little bit rested and have like a day to

SABA NEJAD/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

recover before our competition the third day,” Ben Szuhaj ’19 said.

When the team travels early to away games, the Big Green spends the extra night or nights in hotels, according to Szuhaj. Sometimes, the night before a race, the team has dinner with alumni and coaches, sponsored by the school.

For swimming and diving, the frequency, length and amount of traveling depends on the season.

This season, the Big Green traveled five times compared to the four

times it traveled in the 2016-17 season.

“For the dual meets for the most part we go down either the day before or on that day,” Jack Cardwell ’18 said.

Some of the mid-season meets are spread out over three days because of the multitude of various swimming and diving events.

Therefore, the team leaves a day before the meet starts and come back the day the meet ends. Arriving on site early before the meet helps the team transition smoothly into the meet. “[We leave early to] see the pool, adjust and get settled in before the meet itself starts,” Cardwell said.

The team stays in hotels while away. Swimmers usually share hotel rooms when traveling away, though living arrangements depend on the meet and the number of swimmers traveling. Rooms are often shared between three or four teammates, Cardwell said.

“This last weekend, I was lucky

SABA NEJAD/THE DART

and only had to share [my room] with one other guy, and that made it super nice,” Cardwell said. “Usually when we travel, we’re accommodated pretty nicely.”

Women’s squash has a more dynamic travel schedule that depends on whether it is the team’s turn to host each of their opponents.

“We switch off which schools we go to and which ones come to us,” co-captain Zainab Molani ’18 said.

“This year is our travel-heavy year and over half of our matches are away.

The furthest the team [traveled this season was to play George Washington University in Annapolis, Maryland] which is about nine hours driving,” Molani said. “If we play somewhere far away, we usually go the night before and then stay somewhere and play the next morning.”

For women’s rugby, the amount of travel required each season depends on the team’s past and current success.

“During our fall season, we probably travel maybe three or four times,” Milla Anderson ’19 said. “It

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

of travel and accommodations for athletes

their experience traveling for away games and training trips.

A NEJAD

mouth Staff

TMOUTH STAFF

eally depends on how far we make it into ur championship season. So, we traveled our times this last season.”

The away games were either during reseason, before classes started or toward he end of our season right before finals.

Anderson noted playing ahead of finals eriod can add pressure, but the coaches elp appease the stress.

“Our coaches have to proctor a lot of ur exams,” Anderson said. “Sometimes we have to reschedule midterms.”

When the Big Green competed in the Collegiate Rugby Championship 7’s last eason, the team’s matches coincided with nals.

“One of our coaches [reached] out to ll our professors who gave her our finals chedule and she [helped] to proctor a lot of ur exams at the hotels we stayed in during ut championship game,” Anderson said.

Women’s rugby stays in smaller hotels o accommodate its team size.

“Normally [we stay in] a lot smaller otels [because] we travel as a pretty big eam,” Anderson said. “We carry a roster f 23, but when we compete sometimes we’ll take up to 30 people. So, we’ll be in

SABA NEJAD/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

smaller hotels and it’ll usually be like four to a room.”

The program provides players with food during away games, most of which are provided to players as a team, either at a restaurant or the hotel or from a grocery store.

Women’s basketball has three weekends where its players are away from campus from Thursday night to Sunday.

“We usually take off Thursday night, so we stay in a hotel Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday night,” co-captain Andi Norman ’18 said.

There are usually two teammates to a room, and the roommates are chosen randomly when the team gets to the hotel. “ Yo u n e ve r know who you’re gonna be with until we’re in the

hotel lobby about to head up,” Norman said.

The meals are taken care of by the program when they are away from campus for a game.

For Thursday nights before a game, the Big Green often has team dinners at a restaurant. On game day, the team eats at the hotel for their pre-game meals, often breakfast and lunch. They usually order food for the post-game meal, which will be waiting for the team on the bus for the journey back to Hanover.

Because of the nature of college basketball, men’s basketball travels many times throughout the season.

“We play 27 games in a season, and half or more of them are on the road,” Ian Sistare ’20 said.

This season the men play 15 away games, including seven against Ivy League opponents.

“We always go down the day before the game and spend the night in a hotel somewhere close to the venue where we are playing,” Sistare said.

The team leaves campus on game day when it plays the University of New Hampshire and Harvard University.

“We have some long bus rides, like Cornell [University], Columbia [University], [the University of Pennsylvania] and Princeton [University],” Sistare said.

They stay in hotels while on the road and have food covered by the College when away for a game.

Training Tips

Women’s squash goes on a domestic trip every year, which replaced an international trip it used to take every three years.

During the domestic trip, it receives money for food, according to Molani.

“Depending on the funding for the trip, we get some money for food but usually not enough to fully cover all three meals,” Molani said.

“The coaches pay for a few team dinners.”

The trip focuses more on team bonding whereas the team’s time on-campus over winter break is used to train in preparation for the regular season.

The swimming and diving teams stayed on campus over winter break to prepare for its regular season. In previous seasons, the team has gone on a training trip.

Athletes in the Class of 2018 traveled to Hawaii their freshman year, Puerto Rico their sophomore year and Hawaii again their junior year.

“We usually have one meet then come back for a training trip which is about a two week span towards the end of November into December,” Cardwell said. “It’s where we get our heaviest yardage in [and] build up our endurance before the main championship season.”

This year, because the team stayed on campus, most of the athletes’ meals were covered.

“We were given kind of a per diem from the athletic department when we got on campus,” Cardwell said.

The team also had access to the Class of 1953 Commons, which was covered by athletic department.

“There were only a few meals I had to pay for out of pocket for the [on-campus] training trip,” Cardwell said.

When the team stayed in Hawaii and Puerto Rico, coaches were i n ch arge o f handling the meals for

the swimmers and divers.

While in Hawaii, his freshman year, Cardwell noted the team stayed in one of the visiting student residences at the University of Hawaii.

In Puerto Rico and the second Hawaii trip, the athletes stayed hotels. This year, there was no training trip which meant that the athletes stayed in dorms.

“It was kind of nice to have our own space,” Cardwell said.

The cross country team goes to the Second College Grant in Coos County, New Hampshire at the end of August. The trip usually lasts four or five days.

“That’s actually surprisingly low cost because the cabins are $50 to rent, and the food is all stuff that our coaches buy from Costco in bulk,” Szuhaj said. “So, very low-cost, low tech.”

Women’s basketball does not have a training trip, but similar to all other winter sports, players stay over on campus over winter break.

“We’re actually here the whole interim because we play games,” Norman said. “We start games in November and we’re playing games all the way through March.”

Similarly, men’s basketball does not have a training trip according to Sistare.

Women’s rugby had their last training trip to California two years ago.

“We flew out with the majority of the team and went from San Diego up to San Francisco where we played three games,” Anderson said.

During the training trip, the players received a stipend of $10 for lunch and $10 for dinner, Anderson said.

Last year, however, rugby decided not to go on a training trip. Instead, the team went on a weekend retreat to the Class of ’66 cabin before classes started.

Sabena Allen contributed reporting.

Szuhaj is member of The Dartmouth staff.

Griffith’s Got Stats with Evan Griffith ’18

Women’s basketball may qualify for Ivy League Tournament Well guys, we did it.

Dartmouth men’s basketball managed to come away with its first Ivy League victory of the season Saturday after beating a struggling Princeton University team that has now lost four straight games. The Big Green is currently 1-7 in league play and last in the conference.

Columbia University, Cornell University and Princeton all hold records of 3-5 and are tied for third.

The University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University are tied for the top spot at 7-1. While Yale

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University and Brown University sit at 4-4 and tied for second place.

The race for spots in the Ivy League Tournament is looking closer and closer, and any of the five teams that are currently in the middle of the pack at 4-4 or 3-5 can feasibly take the three and four seeds in the tournament. Remember how I said last week that Princeton was a lock for the tournament barring a total collapse? It looks like that collapse is happening.

Meanwhile, the race for the Ivy League Tournament on the women’s side is looking just as, if not more, intense. The Ivy League women’s basketball tournament follows the same structure as the men’s where the top four teams get in based on conference record, with head to head matchups used as tiebreakers.

There are currently five teams with close conference records. Penn and Princeton are both atop the standings at 6-1, Harvard and Yale are both one and a half games back at 5-3 and Dartmouth is 4-4. The remaining three teams in the Ivy League have some work to do if they want to catch up. Brown and Cornell sit at 2-6, while Columbia is 1-7 in conference play. Let’s see if the numbers tell us anything about which teams have the best shot at making the women’s tournament.

Let’s start with the current

leader. As I said in my previous column, if Penn makes the Ivy League Tournament this season, the Quakers will have a very good shot of winning the whole thing due to home field advantage. Last year, Penn won the Ivy League Championship and the Ivy League Tournament, gaining an automatic spot in the NCAA Tournament, where the Quakers lost to Texas A&M University by two points.

A year ago, Penn was clearly the best team in the Ivy League, but now Penn is currently tied atop the standings with Harvard. Penn’s strength this season comes from its defense. Through 20 games, Penn’s defense has held its opponents to a field goal percentage of .362, best in the Ivy League. Penn’s defense also forces its opponents to shoot the ball more so than other teams in the Ivy League. Penn’s defensive free throw rate, that is, free throws attempted per field goals attempted, is 21.8 percent, second lowest in the Ivy League ahead of Dartmouth. Couple a low free throw rate with a low defensive field goal percentage, opposing teams are going to have trouble scoring on your team’s defense. Penn’s defense is anchored by senior and 2017 Ivy League Player of the Year, Michelle Nwokedi, who is currently third in the Ivy League in blocked shots per

game behind Brown’s Janie White and Princeton’s Bella Alarie.

The Big Green is certainly knocking on the door of the Ivy League Tournament. At the moment, the Big Green is the best shooting team in the Ivy League, sporting a field goal percentage of .430. Dartmouth has the playmakers too. Kate Letkewicz ’18 is the fourth-best three-point shooter in the Ivy League with an average of 2.5 three-point shots per game, and Cy Lippold ’19 leads the Ivy League in assists, with 114 through 21 games. However, if the Big Green wants to make the tournament, there are a few of the “Four Factors” at which Dartmouth is seriously lagging behind the rest of the Ivy League and that the team needs to improve upon. Dartmouth turns the ball over on offense more than six of the seven other teams in the Ivy League, averaging 17.8 turnovers per game, but more glaringly obvious is Dartmouth’s inability to get to the free throw line.

The remaining seven teams in the Ivy League all have offensive free throw rates between 20.6 percent and 28.7 percent; Dartmouth’s free throw rate is 15.6 percent, a good five percentage points below Penn, the team right above it. Curiously, Dartmouth’s defensive free throw rate is also quite low. At 18.5 percent,

it’s the best in the Ivy League, and three percentage points below the next ranked team. It’s interesting how Dartmouth struggles to get to the free-throw line and excels at keeping its opponents from getting to the free-throw line, but if Dartmouth wants to improve, having the ability to take a few more free throws wouldn’t hurt. Dartmouth is the third-best free-throw shooting team in the Ivy League, so a few more opportunities at the line would serve Dartmouth well.

As the Big Green currently sits tied for fourth place, Dartmouth has to immediately compete with Harvard and Yale for a spot in the Ivy League Tournament. Yale’s strength is forcing turnovers on defense and the Bulldogs force the most turnovers per game on defense in the Ivy League. Harvard’s Katie Benzan is the best three-point shooter in the Ivy League, shooting .473 from the three, five percentage points better than Dartmouth’s Lippold. Dartmouth can compete in this league this season, but the team is on the outside looking in right now.

With a little bit of improvement, Dartmouth can certainly overtake Harvard or Yale for a spot. Maybe if I mention Princeton being a lock for the tournament barring a total collapse again as I did for the men, Dartmouth may have a better shot.

Men’s hockey splits weekend, moves closer to home ice advantage

By JAKE PHILHOWER The Dartmouth Staff

Road wins are difficult to come by in the Eastern College Athletic Conference, a conference where all but four teams sport a .500 or above record at home. This weekend, the men’s hockey team went out in search of two of them.

These conference matchups for the Big Green — against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Union College, the 10th and 11th contests of a 15-game conference stretch run — are becoming increasingly important as the regular season winds down and teams focus more on playoff positioning. A move into the ECAC’s top four and the first-round bye that comes with it could be a strong foundation for a Big Green playoff run. Dartmouth came into the weekend in a precarious three-way tie for sixth place, a position which would guarantee home ice in the first round of the playoffs.

Friday night’s contest against RPI was an opportunity to get a conference win over a team Dartmouth matched up well against on paper. Rensselaer, typically a stronger team, has had a tough season, entering the weekend at 5-20-4.

The Big Green overcame an early one-goal deficit on its way to a 7-3 win.

Forwards Will Graber ’20 and Shane Sellar ’20 scored three and two goals respectively, helping the Big Green put

together an impressive win. the game, Union snuck another goal “It was a huge win for us on the road past Adrian Clark ’20 — and this one at RPI this past weekend,” Sellar said. would prove to be the game-winner.

“We knew that with six games left in the Despite a strong rush in the closing season, four of them being on the road, minutes of the game, the Big Green that we were going to need to find ways couldn’t manage an equalizer. to win games on the road, so to come Players said the tough loss is a sign out Friday night and get that win was that the Big Green’s play is improving. good.”

“I think we The second “We know that are starting to leg of the road trip hit stride, and it’s took Dartmouth there are five teams the perfect time,” to Troy, New York fighting for home ice forward Quin to a matchup with advantage in the first Foreman ’21 said.

Union that looked The weekend to be much more round or the potential split leaves of a challenge. to get a first-round Dartmouth The Bulldogs, one mired in the of the better teams bye, which makes same three-way in the ECAC, every game that much tie for sixth along brought a 12-5 with Princeton more important. The conference record University and into its face-off mindset heading into Yale University. with Dartmouth, these games for the The last four including wins in games — six of its last seven. team is that these are especially T h e B i g all playoff games.” winnable contests Green put up a against 10th-place tough fight as the Brown University first period came -SHANE SELLAR ’20 and last-place and went without St. Lawrence a goal for either team. But the Bulldogs University — will play a crucial role found the back of the net early in the in determining Dartmouth’s ECAC second period. Union held the 1-0 lead positioning. Thompson Arena has been into the third frame until defenseman unforgiving to playoff visitors. The Big Tim Shoup ’18 tied it back up early in Green has won its last four playoff series the period. on home ice, most recently downing With just over seven minutes left in Colgate University at home in 2016.

TIFFANY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Forward Will Graber ’20 scored three goals against Rensellaer Polytechnic Institute.

“These last few ECAC games to end the year are all very important,” Sellar said. “We know that there are five teams fighting for home ice advantage in the first round or the potential to get a firstround bye, which makes every game that much more important. The mindset heading into these games for the team is that these are all playoff games.”

The academic term isn’t making things any easier on the players, who have to take final exams while preparing for playoff games, unlike players at semester-schedule schools.

“These last four games are very big for us so we can play at home for the first round of playoffs,” forward Alex Jasiek ’19 said. “It makes it easier with

finals season and with our hometown fans there we definitely want to get as many points as possible the next two weekends.”

The Big Green plays its last homestand of the regular season next weekend, facing off with No. 7 Clarkson University on Friday, a team the Green and White toppled on the road a few weeks ago when the Golden Knights were ranked No. 2 in the nation.

Clarkson, though second in the ECAC, has been slipping in the past few weeks and has not won since Jan. 26.

A victory against the Golden Knights would cement the season sweep and make a statement to the ECAC: This Dartmouth team is for real.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2018

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SW 7

Men’s squash likely to compete in nationals

By SABENA ALLEN

The Dartmouth Staff

As the men’s squash regular season comes to a close, the Big Green has placed itself in a position as one of the top eight teams in the College Squash Association eligible to compete for the Potter Cup at the 2018 Men’s National Team Championship in Hartford, Connecticut. Dartmouth has defeated No. 8 University of Rochester, No. 7 Princeton University and No. 9 Yale University in the last few weeks.

“It has been a very strong season overall, [with the team] only losing to the top three schools in the country,” Brandon de Otaduy Nam ’20 said.

“Last year, we just missed the top eight, so it’s been great to have had crucial wins, such as Rochester and Drexel [University], that have pushed us through [to] the next level.”

De Otaduy Nam noted the 5-4 win over Rochester, who was ranked No. 8 nationally at the time, was especially exciting for the team. Although the Big Green had a slow start, the team clinched the win when Matthew Giegerich ’19 won the final match of the afternoon in five exciting sets.

“Everyone had finished playing, so our entire team watched as [Giegerich] won his match; it was very exciting,” de Otaduy Nam said.

Dartmouth has emphasized both mental fortitude and physical strength this season.

“We’ve always been a team that’s prided ourselves on our fitness levels and sort of the physicality that we bring to the game,” co-captain Alvin Heumann ’18 said.

This season, the team has focused on the mental aspect of the game in their practices.

“Squash is a very mental game, so even the fittest and most talented player can lose if he is not strong enough mentally,” de Otaduy Nam said. “This year, I think we’ve worked really hard to always stay composed and relaxed even if you are losing your match. I believe this has helped everyone play better and win matches when it really matters.”

With three consecutive wins to start the season in December 2017, the men hit their stride right away in preparation for the rest of their regular-season games.

“I think the start of the season was really important for us,” Heumann said. “We had a big swath of away matches where we played [the U.S. Naval Academy], [George Washington University] and Franklin & Marshall [College]. That’s always hard for us just because we’re traveling a ton. It’s the beginning of the season and a lot of people aren’t used to away crowds. The whole team, especially

the freshmen, did a good job of starting the season on a high note.”

The matches against then-No. 6 University of Pennsylvania and Princeton, on Feb. 3 and Feb. 4, respectively, were vital to the team’s chance to compete for the Potter Cup. Although the team lost to Penn in a tight 5-4 matchup, it rebounded with its best win of the season over Princeton to maintain its hold on a top eight spot.

“Both matches [last] weekend were as close as they could get,” Zachary Quayle ’19 said. “Penn and Princeton are both great teams, so we’re happy to have played two tightly contested matches and come out on top in one of them. Our win over Princeton makes it very likely that we’ll be in the ‘A Draw’ of nationals, meaning that we’d finish the season as one of the top eight teams in the nation. Just making the ‘A Draw’ would be an improvement over our ninth-place finish last year, so we’re pleased with our current trajectory.”

The team has had a goal of finishing in the top eight all season, according to Heumann. The chance for a national title in 2018 has been motivating the Big Green all season, especially with regard to improving one’s individual game.

“Everyone on our team is always listening to our coaches’ recommendations on technical and physical improvements,” Heumann said. “We’re a team that listens. We’re a physical team, and we’re a close team that gets along and has fun.”

This weekend, Dartmouth ended its regular season with an away match versus No. 13 Brown University and a home match against No. 9 Yale.

On Friday, the Big Green dispatched their opponents from Providence, Rhode Island 7-2.

Dartmouth won every match in the first round of the day, clinching the victory without stress.

When the men hosted fellow top10 and Ivy League opponent Yale, the Big Green also got off to a strong start, winning the first round and ultimately winning six of nine matches. The victory improved Dartmouth’s final record to 11-4.

As of this weekend, the Big Green is holding on to the number 5 spot in the College Squash Association’s rankings. Despite the loss to Dartmouth on Sunday, Yale is still a contender for a position in the CSA’s top eight.

This weekend’s results all but ensure Dartmouth’s well-earned shot at a national championship. If the rankings were to remain unchanged, the Big Green would face No. 4 St. Lawrence University in the first round of the Potter Cup. The two teams have yet to play this season.

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SW 8

SPORTS

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2018

TODAY’S LINEUP

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Skiing teams win Dartmouth Carnival for first time since 2010

By EVAN MORGAN

The Dartmouth Senior Staff

With high spirits, loud crowds and several mops of green and pink hair, the Big Green ski teams won the Dartmouth Carnival for the first time since 2010.

For the alpine skiers, the carnival was a return to familiar territory and a chance to make up for a disappointing outing at the skiway last season, when the University of Vermont won the men’s and women’s slalom on the second day en route to a come-frombehind overall win — Dartmouth’s only loss of the season. On the Nordic side, it was the first time in seven years that the carnival races could be held at Dartmouth’s Oak Hill course.

The racing was the culmination of a week’s worth of hype for the Dartmouth skiers. Tradition dictates that the first-years on the Nordic team don carnival hairstyles: green mohawks for the men and neon pink dye for the women. On Thursday, the teams did their pre-race ski in flair.

Several athletes on the men’s side sported ski team intramural hockey jerseys, said men’s Nordic skier Adam Glueck ’21, while Jan Ketterson ’17 skied in business casual attire.

“The vibe is pretty crazy,” alpine skier Tanguy Nef ’20 said. Because the skiers are so focused on performing as a team at a single competition, “one could compare it to the vibe you get at [the NCAA Championships].”

Dartmouth’s alpine skiers don’t have the same carnival traditions as Nordic skiers, according to Nef. But the pressure of racing a home carnival can be equally intense. A small alpine tradition for the skiers is to hit their hand against a panel emblazoned with the words “Dartmouth skiing” and the ski team’s snowflake insignia in the start house during a home race.

“It’s a Dartmouth skiing thing,” said Nef, adding that he had not known about the tradition until he saw Thomas Woolson ’17’s example.

“Just seeing that I thought, ‘Oh wow, this is a big deal.’ It almost sounded intimidating — this is our place, and we set the rules here.”

The men’s Nordic team led off Friday’s racing with the 10-kilometer classic. Skiing on a course made firm by temperatures around 10 degrees Fahrenheit, the Big Green took third, fifth and 11th. Luke Brown ’18 battled to the finish with eventual winner Peter Holmes of the University of New Hampshire, who started a bib

behind the Dartmouth senior. Brown finished the day on the bottom step of the podium, with Callan DeLine ’18 less than 10 seconds behind in fifth and Gavin McEwen ’19 finishing as the third Dartmouth scorer.

The Dartmouth men were the top team in the classic, their first win this season on classic skis with kick wax.

“This is something we’ve been targeting all year, to improve the classic skiing, and to do it at home with a team effort on that 10K course was really cool,” men’s Nordic head coach Brayton Osgood said.

Hitting the course after the men’s race, the Big Green women made waves by taking four out of the top five positions in the 10-kilometer freestyle. Katharine Ogden ’21 came across in first, dethroning UVM’s Alayna Sonnesyn, who had won all five previous races this season. Ogden, skiing with electric-pink hair, finished nearly 40 seconds ahead of Lauren Jortberg ’20 in second and edged Sonnesyn by a full minute. Taryn Hunt-Smith ’19 added points for the Big Green in fourth, with Emily Hyde ’19 behind her.

Finally recovered from an illness which limited her performance in the first half of the season, Ogden said she is now racing on all cylinders.

“I was really excited for the weekend, and I just went out as hard as I could and hoped for the best,” she said. “That’s not usually the best pacing strategy, but it ended up working out.”

Meanwhile, the Dartmouth men dominated the giant slalom at Holt’s Ledge. Nef put himself back in the hunt for the giant slalom leader bib, posting the top time on both runs.

Brian McLaughlin ’18 was just over a half-second back in second place, and David Domonoske ’20 had a strong second run to cement a fifthplace finish, his second in as many weeks. Woolson was a spot behind Domonoske, while James Ferri ’19, making his carnival debut after missing time due to injury in his first two seasons, skied into seventh place from bib 36 — an impressive show of Dartmouth’s depth.

On the women’s side, despite a first-place performance from Foreste Peterson ’18, Dartmouth came two points short of the giant slalom team win. Peterson defended her position as the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association’s giant slalom leader by .35 seconds. Claire Thomas ’21 finished in fourth, while Kelly Moore ’18 and

EVAN MORGAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Kelly Moore ’18 placed seventh in the giant slalom competition of the Dartmouth Carnival on Friday.

Alexa Dlouhy ’19 placed seventh and eighth, respectively. Catamount skiers took the bottom two steps of the podium to steal the team win.

The well-groomed track at the skiway was no accident. Men’s alpine head coach Peter Dodge credited skiway personnel, who worked for hours on Wednesday morning to remove the foot of snow that had just fallen, exposing the icy surface that is better for ski racing.

“If you could drive a Zamboni down it, we would probably be happy,” Dodge said. “That way it doesn’t rut up, and it’s fair for everyone.”

The men’s and women’s teams swapped places the following day, with the women winning the slalom and the men coming in second.

The Catamount women went onetwo as Paula Moltzan continued her undefeated slalom season. But Dartmouth played spoiler, with Dlouhy, Peterson and Steph Currie ’20 going three-four-six to give Dartmouth a one-point win. On the men’s side, Nef skied the fastest first run of the day before settling for second place. Though McLaughlin and Domonoske brought home fifth and sixth, UVM edged Dartmouth by six points.

Saturday’s racing brought a larger crowd out to the skiway.

Onlookers shouted the skiers through

“Hangman’s Corner,” the turn at the bottom of Thomas Trail, while Brian Francis ’18 and other Big Green skiers provided color commentary. The McLane Family Lodge buzzed with activity as athletes took over the second floor of the building.

The scene at Oak Hill was even more crowded, and the tight trails made for an intimate atmosphere.

The collegiate races were combined with an Eastern Cup race for junior skiers, bringing nearly 400 competitors to the course. Throngs of spectators, and the Dartmouth Dining Services food truck gave the races a tailgate-like atmosphere. Fans cheered skiers on from the starting blocks and lined the top of a climb on the back half of the 5-kilometer loop.

“It was fun to be out on the course and hear people telling me to go and saying my name and saying ‘go Dartmouth’ and being able to dig deeper,” Glueck said.

Glueck hails from Hanover and knows the Oak Hill trails well, having trained here as a junior skier with the Ford Sayre club. In the 10K skate on Saturday, the first-year had his best-ever collegiate performance, finishing fifth.

Familiarity with the course gave Dartmouth Nordic skiers a bit of an

edge, according to Glueck and Osgood.

“You’ve skied that course so many times,” Glueck said. “You’ve skied it in intervals, you’ve skied it in workouts, so you know where you can make a move, you know the good lines, you know where the technique is efficient and it’s fun to be skiing it in a race and using that to your advantage.”

DeLine finished second, just over 14 seconds behind Colby College’s Zane Fields, who has won every skate race this season. Glueck crossed the line 6.1 seconds ahead of McEwen, who finished sixth, sealing a six-point freestyle win for the Big Green.

The women’s Nordic team put in another strong showing in the 5-kilometer freestyle as the podium was a carbon copy of Friday’s top three. Ogden got her second win of the season, followed by Jortberg and Sonnesyn. Hunt-Smith took fourth, barely two seconds off the podium, and is still looking for her first podium of the season after taking fourth in five straight races.

Saturday’s performances brought home a big overall win for the Big Green.

Last season, the Dartmouth lost a 40-point overall lead on the second day of its home carnival. By winning three of four events on Saturday, the team ensured that the 2018 was — at long last — the home win it had waited eight years to get.