2.19.18
Take Me Out to the Ball Game: Attendance at Big Green Games p. 4–5
Among Dartmouth skiers, skiing is a family affair p. 8 Griffith’s Got Stats: NCAA men’s basketball’s wild season p. 7 Weekend losses end women’s ice hockey’s season p. 7 Olympics Corner: Two athletes join U.S. skiing team last-minute p. 6 Men’s baseball adjusts to lineup changes for spring opener p. 6 The Weekend Roundup p. 2–3 COURTESY OF LAURA SGRECCI
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
SW 2
The weekend Roundup
Lacrosse Men’s lacrosse won its season opener against Canisius College on Saturday, winning 13-12 on a last-second goal by captain Jack Korzelius ’18, his third goal of the game. Richie Loftus ’18 and Matt Paul ’21 added two goals apiece. The game was largely a back and forth affair, with Dartmouth outscoring the Golden Griffins 5-1 in the first quarter and Canisius rebounding to outscore the Big Green 5-3 in the second quarter and 4-2 in the third quarter to head into the final frame tied at 10. Korzelius’ goal with less than two seconds to play broke a 12-12 tie and secured the win for the Big Green. Women’s lacrosse fell in its season opener
Compiled by Luke Gitter, Jake Johnson, CHRIS SHIM and Andrew Wright
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2018
MEN’S TENNIS
against No. 18 the University of Massachusetts 17-13. Elizabeth Mastrio ’19 led the way for the Big Green with six goals. Claire Marshall ’21 set a program record for draw controls in a debut with 11. At the end of the first half, the women were only down a lone score after a goal by Mastrio with a minute remaining. The second half brought renewed energy for the Minutewomen, who scored six goals in the first eight minutes of the second half. Despite a final push by the Big Green, including four goals in the final 11 minutes of the game, UMass’ lead was too much for the Big Green to overcome. In goal, Kiera Vrindten ’20 made 10 saves in the first half but only one in the second half.
ISHAAN JAJODIA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
After finishing 11-14 overall last year, men’s tennis is 12-0 overall.
Men’s tennis competed in the Easter n College Athletic Conference Indoor Championship ove r t h e w e e k e n d , b e a t i n g Monmouth University, Princeton University and Harvard University 4-1 to earn its first conference championship title in team history. Against Monmouth, Dartmouth dropped the doubles point for the first time all season but rebounded in singles to secure the 4-1 win over the Hawks. Charlie Broom ’20 led the way for the Big Green, winning in doubles with partner David Horneffer ’20 and singles at the No. 1 slot. Men’s tennis beat Princeton 4-1 in the semifinals of the championship on Saturday. For the second straight day, Broom and Horneffer won at first doubles, w h i l e D a r t m o u t h ’s s e c o n d and third doubles teams lost, relinquishing the doubles point to Princeton. The Big Green shut
down Princeton for the remainder of the match, with Broom, Dan Martin ’21 and Horneffer winning their matches at the top of the lineup. Max Fliegner ’18 clinched the victory for Dartmouth at fourth singles. On Sunday, the men secured the title with a 4-1 victory over Harvard, moving the team’s record to 12-0 and extending its best start in team history. The Big Green’s No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, consisting of Roko Glasnovic ’19 and Casey Ross ’21 and Peter Conklin ’21 and Fliegner, respectively, won their matches to give the Big Green the doubles point. Fliegner, Horneffer and Riccardi won in singles to seal the match and the championship for Dartmouth. T he Big Green retur n to action this weekend, hosting the University of Iowa, Old Dominion University and Boston University over two days.
Ray Lu ’18 Editor-in-Chief
2.19.18 Vol. CLXXIV No. 184
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
ELIZA MCDONOUGH/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Women’s lacrosse opened its 2018 season looking to improve upon last year’s 7-8 overall record.
W SWIMMING & DIVING Women’s swimming and diving concluded its season at the Ivy League Championships, finishing in last with a point total of 475. Harvard University won the championship with 1,616 points. The Big Green’s performance was led by Mackenzie Stumpf ’21’s second-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke, in which she cleared
the NCAA B cut and set a new school record at 2:12.61. Hayley Winter ’18 finished 12th in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Summer Martin ’21 touched in 17th place in the 100-yard freestyle. Maggie Pionzio ’20 finished in 12th on the 3-meter diving board. To end its season, the Big Green’s 400-yard freestyle relay took eighth.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2018
Basketball
SABA NEJAD/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
The men’s team split its games this past weekend against Brown University and Yale University.
Men’s basketball’s fell short against Yale University, dropping Friday’s game 77-65. The Big Green was down 12 at halftime and as much as 25 with six minutes left in the game. The men ended the game on a 15-2 run. Cocaptain Miles Wright ’18 paced Dartmouth with 18 points and four 3-pointers. Will Emery ’20 added 15 points on 7-9 shooting. D a r t m o u t h re t u r n e d t o action Saturday at home against Brown University, winning 6663 in exhilarating fashion. Chris Knight ’21 paced the Big Green with a career-high 18 points and eight rebounds. He was supported by Taylor Johnson ’18 and Wright, who each scored 15 points. After two ties and five lead changes, Brown missed a threepointer with four seconds left to seal Dartmouth’s victory. Women’s basketball had a
great weekend, earning two important victories over Brown and Yale. Against Yale, Dartmouth won a thrilling overtime game 64-62. Kate Letkewicz ’18 had a phenomenal game, leading the team with 29 points and recording her 1,000th career point, the 17th Dartmouth player to do so. Isalys Quiñones ’19 added 19 points to help the Big Green win. The Big Green carried its strong play into Saturday’s matchup with Brown, winning 77-60. Letkewicz continued her dominance, scoring 28 points on 11-20 shooting. Despite trailing after the first quarter, the Big Green outscored Brown by 18 points in the second quarter, holding its lead for the rest of the game. The win moved Dartmouth to 14-9 overall on the season and 6-4 in the Ivy League.
SKIING
Skiing beat out the University of Vermont, Middlebury College and 13 other schools at the Williams College Carnival with a score of 990 points. The Big Green dominated the competition with a first- or secondplace team finish in every event. Brian McLaughlin ’18 took first in the men’s giant slalom on Friday and the slalom on Saturday. Co-captain Foreste Peterson ’18 finished second in the women’s slalom, finishing just over half of a second behind Vermont’s Paula Moltzan. She was joined by four other Big Green skiers in the top 10.
Despite placing five skiers in the top ten in the women’s 3.8-kilometer freestyle race, the women’s Nordic team took second in the competition. The women’s team was led by Taryn Hunt-Smith ’19, who earned her first career podium finish in an individual race with a final time of 9:20.02. Similarly, Gavin McEwen ’19 finished with his first career podium step in an individual race to lead the Big Green to a second-place finish in the men’s 3.8K freestyle race. Skiing heads to Middlebury this weekend to compete in the NCAA Regional Championships.
WOMEN’S GOLF Dartmouth is in third place with a 308 (+20) after round one of the Florida Atlantic University Winter Warmup on Sunday in Boca Raton, F lorida. Moon Cheong ’21 led the way for the Big Green, carding an even-par 72, good for the best individual showing of the day. Jessica Kittelberger ’18 was just one stroke behind in second with a 73
SW 3
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
(+1). Maddie Nelson ’20 was third on the team in 14th place with an 80, while co-captain Isabelle Kane ’18 was three strokes back with an 83. Julianne Strauch ’21 rounded out the Big Green scorers tied in 19th place with a 93. Dartmouth sits in last place behind FAU and Brown University. Today’s second round concludes the tournament.
ICE HOCKEY Men’s hockey had one of its best wins of the season on Friday, upsetting No. 7 Clarkson University 3-2 in a thrilling game in which head coach Bob Gaudet ’81 became just the second Dartmouth coach ever to reach 300 wins. Shane Sellar ’20 found the back of the net midway through the first period to open the game’s scoring. Clarkson’s Devin Brosseau equalized with just over two minutes left to play in the second period. Two early goals by the Big Green’s Charley Michalowski ’20 and Cam Strong ’20 in the third frame gave Dartmouth a commanding 3-1 lead. Despite outshooting Dartmouth 35-22 overall, Clarkson was unable to overcome the Big Green’s two-goal lead, netting just one in the final frame. Dartmouth carried its momentum from Friday’s win into Senior Night on Saturday, beating St. Lawrence University 3-1, with all three goals coming in the third period. St. Lawrence struck first, five minutes into the first period, but was unable to score for the rest of the game. Collin Rutherford ’21 netted the game-tying goal eight minutes into the third. With less than a minute to go in the game, Rutherford scored again to
put the Big Green up for good. Quin Foreman ’21 scored an empty net goal 51 seconds later to seal the game and move Dartmouth to 12-13-2 overall and 10-9-1 in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. The men are currently fifth in the ECAC and second in the Ivy League to Harvard University. Women’s ice hockey ended its season with games on Friday and Saturday against No. 2 Clarkson and No. 8 St. Lawrence, respectively, which both ended in losses. Against Clarkson, the Big Green fell 4-0, behind two Golden Knights goals each in the first and third period. Dartmouth was outshot 46-23 in a dominating effort by Clarkson, which is currently 29-4-1 overall. The Big Green ended its season with a loss 5-0 to St. Lawrence. Despite outshooting the Saints 11-7 in the third, Dartmouth could not capitalize on any chances. The women concluded their season 5-19-3 overall and 3-16-3 in the ECAC. The Big Green finished the year 11th in the ECAC, failing to make the make the ECAC playoffs as one of the top eight teams in the conference.
WOMEN’S SQUASH
Women’s squash team had a strong weekend at the National Team Championships. The Big Green competed in the Kurtz Cup, the second national tournament in women’s college squash that includes ninth through 16th best teams in the nation. The women started out with a resounding 8-1 victory over No. 15 Middlebury College. Five Dartmouth athletes won in straight sets, including Annie Blasberg ’20 and co-captain Rebecca Brownell ’18 at the first and second positions, respectively. Sandra Reiss ’21 won the only five-set match of the day with an impressive 11-3 fifth set. In the semifinals, the team dominated No. 11 Williams College 9-0 to advance to the finals of
the competition. Despite winning three matches against the Big Green in its matchup on Dec. 9, Williams was unable to get on the board on Saturday. Blasberg and Brownell continued their strong play, sweeping their opponents for the second straight day. Blasberg clinched her match in an exciting 17-15 third set. Dartmouth faced No. 9 Drexel University in the finals of the Kurtz Cup on Sunday, falling 6-3 to end the team season 10th in the nation. The top of the lineup was unable to gain any momentum as all three Dartmouth points came from the bottom three spots in the lineup. Ellie Gozigian ’21, co-captain Zainab Molani ’18 and Emma Roberts ’19 won for the Big Green.
SW 4
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2018
Take me out to
The athletic department works to inc
When thinking about sports, By EVAN GRIFFITH, MAYA some people typically consider The Dar different games, matches and meets and the many rules associated with the sport. Others may think about year when our home crowd really helped their own experience as an athlete us out in terms of energy and enthusiasm,” and the fond memories associated Sistare said. “A great home crowd gives with it. Still, some may think the players and the coaches such a boost about their favorite teams and in terms of energy and enthusiasm. [It] athletes. Although these are vital makes the game so much more exciting components of sports, the unsung and the atmosphere is so much better when heroes in athletics are the fans. Fans the crowd is wild.” are a crucial part of games as they While football, men’s hockey and men’s have the ability to rally behind soccer do not need much help in attracting teams after a challenging defeat or fans to their events, some sports that may advocate for them in their biggest have venues further away from campus triumphs. have trouble attracting fans to their events. With fans maintaining such Sports that are not ticketed also have to an important role to their teams, use their own resources to get fans to their promoters and marketing teams events. consistently work to maintain fan “There have been situations, such as support throughout the season. rugby and skiing, where we will work with To do this, however, they must the teams, if they want to use their own begin by looking at the trends in resources to try to get fans to their games,” attendance. Sgrecci said. “I’m happy to work with According to Dartmouth them to come up with ideas. In terms of athletics department’s press box the distance to get to rugby and skiing, we data from year to year for 13 have worked with our administration and ticketed sports, the most wellthe teams budget to work out a shuttle to attended sports at Dartmouth are get to big games.” football and men’s hockey. Men’s Because of the home competition site’s soccer comes in at a distant third. distance from campus, the equestrian team Football’s lead isn’t much of a usually has a core fan base of friends and surprise, as there are only five or family. six home games in a typical season, “We are six miles from campus, and and there is more of a “game-day” it’s not easy to get there [because] it’s up atmosphere associated with the a mountain,” equestrian head coach Sally COURTESY OF LAURA SGRECCI sport. Batton said. “So any fan attendance that Laura Sgrecci, the assistant Fans dressed in flannel cheer on men’s basketball in the team’s 72-56 win over Princeton University. we have are friends of members on our athletic director for marketing for equestrian team.” the Dartmouth athletic department, matches, and is vocal and has a highest-attended game in the last came away with an overtime Equestrian also has a more intimate described some of the trends great impact on the game and on four years at 2,100 people. That victory. atmosphere that comes with the smaller game against Brown University Men’s basketball’s Ian Sistare size of the fan base. she has noticed at Dartmouth the atmosphere.” had Ivy League title implications, ’20 stressed the impact that a home “I would say compared to like a hockey athletic events In 2015, the so the Dartmouth community crowd can have on the energy of game where you may or may not know throughout the football team came out in force to support its a team. years, including “A great home crowd the hockey players, [it’s more personal] wo n a s h a re team, and it paid off as the team “We have had a few games this because it’s friends of the athletes,” i n c r e a s e d gives the players of the Ivy attendance with and the coaches L e a g u e t i t l e, better team winning every performances. such a boost in one of its five terms of energy and home g ames. “Naturally, yo u s e e o u r enthusiasm. [It] makes T h e ave r a g e attendance of a t t e n d a n c e the game so much football trend with the more exciting and the home games that perfor mance of our teams,” atmosphere is so much s e a s o n w a s Sg recci said. better when the crowd 6,660 people, a jump from “Men’s soccer is 5,549 people on a great example is wild. average in 2014. [with] four Ivy L i k e w i s e, i n League titles in -IAN SISTARE ’20 the 2012 men’s four years, their soccer season, attendance Dartmouth won overall and six of its seven a m o n g s t home g ames, s t u d e n t s with an average has been attendance of pretty strong. 1,300 people, Something that I’ve noticed contributing to that higher than the overall average is that they have a lot of friends attendance over the last five years MAYA MOTEN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF on campus and their fraternity of around 990 people. The last Baseball, men’s basketball, football, men’s soccer and women’s basketball have had relatively constant attendance since 2012. comes out in force to all their home game of the season also saw the
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2018
SW 5
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
o the ball game
crease attendance at sporting events
A MOTEN AND SABA NEJAD
rtmouth
focus groups this summer, we as a department decided to give it a try starting late summer, early fall,” Sgrecci said. “The app is for all Dartmouth students, and it’s aimed at increasing student attendance at all of our events so it includes all 35 of our varsity sports.” The app is similar to the polling platform College Pulse in that it gives students points for attending athletic events and rewards those students with prizes once they’ve reached a certain threshold. “The app is based on the locations services of your phone,”
so far. In addition, Sgrecci incorporated an extra studentathlete component into the app to encourage student-athletes to attend their fellow studentathletes’ events. “[The app] includes a competition amongst our teams so that at the end of the academic year the team that accumulates the most points based on their roster size, basically the team that’s been the most supportive of their student-athletes, wins a trophy,” Sgrecci said. “[So far] women’s
on [Feb. 10] so we decided let’s go for it,” Sgrecci said. “Also last year we had started getting in touch with Guinness World Records to find out what was an appropriate record involving flannel, that we could tie into this. [We] found [out] about this interesting record about the largest gathering of people wearing tartan, and we were pleased to find out that it was a number [1,146] that we could hit based on the capacity of Leede Arena, a crowd size that we have certainly drawn.” When planning the event, an important distinction had
“Obviously the team isn’t able to wear tartan or flannel, but we [asked] the coaches [if they were] willing to wear tartan ties.” Unfortunately, the fans didn’t break the record, but the game was extremely well attended. “I think our announced attendance that night was 1,396.” Sgrecci said. “We’ve had two sellouts for basketball this season, against [the University of Vermont] and Harvard [University] and then this was a near sellout at 1,396. So, we felt like it was a success in terms of driving attendance to a
Batton said. “So in the past they’ve made funny signs related to horse terms. Signs would say, ‘Jane you’re galloping into our hearts.’ Something funny. So for me it’s really entertaining. And then I generally hang onto the signs, and I hang them in our locker room so we can look at them.” Batton echoed Sistare’s statement about fans boosting the team morale. “I think that [the support] does really boost the morale of the athletes,” Batton said. “Also I think having the signs and the people cheering for them it makes them feel like the other varsity athletes. When you play a team sport you’re used to having a lot of people around you cheering and you take it for granted. And so equestrian tends to be quiet like golf in order to not spook the horses. So it’s great that you can have people cheering for you. It’s fun to have the atmosphere.” In recent years, Dartmouth’s athletic department has started multiple initiatives to get Dartmouth students and residents of the Upper Valley to come to athletic events. “We’ve done focus groups with students and student athletes to try to understand what incentivizes and what drives students to go to games and what incentivizes student athletes to get excited to go to their fellow student athletes’ games,” Sgrecci said. “And so I’ve met with the Programming Board and other organizations like that to try to gain more insight and information as to student behavior, and given everything they have going on, what really is going to compel them to go to an athletic contest. SABA NEJAD/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF So, we kind of base our path and our With an average attendance of 5,833 people over the last five seasons, attendance at football games far exceeds attendance at all other ticketed sports. behavior on those learnings.” Sgrecci noted giveaways are one of the to be made between “flannel” meaningful game. We consider more common initiatives the Dartmouth Sgrecci said. “It lists all of the basketball is leading the pack.” events and once it’s within the game I n o r d e r t o a n d “ t a r t a n ” it a success from a marketing athletics department takes. time, say it’s further increase the — tartan is the standpoint and we are planning “[We give away] hats, a 7:00 [p.m.] number of students “We had a great p l a i d p a t t e r n , on making this an annual thing.” scarves [and] things ... “We’ve done b a s k e t b a l l registered on the turnout. [There and flannel is the The men’s basketball players that I tend to hear are g a m e , a n d app, Sgrecci plans material used to seemed to view the initiative as a popular, something that focus groups with were] lots of y o u ’ r e i n to promote the app make the shirts. success as well. They were certainly [spectators] can wear at students and student t h e r a d i u s during Orientation. flannels in the The record also appreciative of the fans as the team a game or in the winter for it and it A n o t h e r crowd which was s p e c i f i e d t h a t pulled out its first Ivy League win s i n c e i t ’s p r a c t i c a l l y athletes to try and can tell that initiative that has each person had of the season against Princeton winter throughout the understand what you’re in the t a k e n p l a c e i n great. I think we be wearing two that night. year,” Sgrecci said. incentivizes and what venue, you’re the past week has fell a little short of to tartan articles of “ T h e f l a n n e l g a m e w a s The giveaways are not clothing, one top fantastic,” Sistare said. “We had limited to clothing items. drives students to get a bl e t o h i t been the “flannel the world record, ‘check in.’ It night” at the men’s or bottom and one a great turnout. [There were] lots “We’ve heard that to games.” rewards you, basketball g ame but it was a great accessory. of flannels in the crowd which was food sometimes can be and it gives against Princeton crowd that night The coaching great. I think we fell a little short of popular, so we’ve done you points for University on Feb. staff joined in the the world record, but it was a great mac and cheese night at -LAURA SGRECCI, and it energized ever y event 10. festivities as well, crowd that night and it energized a hockey game last year,” ASSISTANT ATHLETIC that you go “At some point our team and p ro m o t i n g t h e our team and helped us pull the Sgrecci said. “We’ve done to, and then last year I discovered by wearing win out.” tailgates, you know, typical DIRECTOR FOR helped us pull the event a t c e r t a i n that [Feb. 10] was tartan of their While attendance at Dartmouth barbecues at football and MARKETING FOR THE t h r e s h o l d s n at i o n a l f l a n n e l win out.” own. athletic events may not always be soccer games.” t h e r e a r e day and so going “ W e as high as it could be, efforts are One of the major DARTMOUTH ATHLETIC p r i z e s t h a t into this fall when b r a i n s t o r m e d certainly being made to increase new initiatives was the DEPARTMENT you can win.” we were looking at -IAN SISTARE ’20 h ow we c o u l d the number of Dartmouth students development of the Big W i t h the winter sports get the team and and members of the greater Green Rewards app. t h e c o a c h i n g D a r t m o u t h c o m mu n i t y wh o “[The app is] something that a few over 600 registered students, schedule I saw that other Ivies are doing and after doing some Sgrecci views the app as a success men’s basketball had a home game staff involved,” Sgrecci said. support the Big Green.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2018
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
SW 6
Olympics Corner: Two alpine skiers join U.S. team last-minute By CAITLYN MCGOVERN The Dartmouth Staff
In the final days leading up to the start of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, two current Dartmouth students were added to Team USA’s roster for alpine skiing: Alice Merryweather ’21 and Tricia Mangan ’19, neither of whom competed with Dartmouth’s ski team this season. On Jan. 26, Steven Nyman, a veteran skier who had just recovered from a knee injury sustained while racing in 2017, tore his ACL in the opposite knee 364 days after his previous injury on the same mountain while racing in GarmischPartenkirchen, Germany. As a result, Merryweather was named Nyman’s replacement on Feb. 3 and made her way to Pyeongchang. Merryweather, who hails from Hingham, Massachusetts, clicked on
her first set of skis at four years old and furthered her racing career at Stratton Mountain School in Vermont, which has a premier alpine program focused on training student-athletes. At only 21 years old, she is younger than the average Olympic athlete for Team USA, which is 26.5 years old. In 2014 and 2015, Merryweather competed on the Junior World Championship Team and was named to the Team USA Alpine Skiing D Team in 2016. In that same year, she raced for the first time in the World Cup in Altenmarkt, Austria, taking on the slopes in the downhill race. Since then, she has moved to the Alpine B Team and the Olympic stage. Merryweather has also had an exciting year, winning the downhill FIS Junior World Ski Championship in Åre, Sweden last March and placing 19th in the FIS World Cup Finals in Aspen, Colorado just a week later. Later last year she also
competed for the first time in the World Cup giant slalom race in Killington, Vermont and in the FIS World Cup super G event in Val d’Isere, France where she finished 24th. Merryweather’s focus has mainly been on speed skiing events. However, at the Olympics she competed in the slalom, where athletes must ski between either gates or poles as they navigate the mountain. Out of 81 athletes, Merryweather placed 42nd with a time of 1:53.57, putting her 14.94 seconds behind first-place finisher Frida Hansdotter of Sweden. After the Olympics, Merryweather plans to start her first year at Dartmouth in the spring. Joining Mer r yweather in Pyeongchang is 20-year-old Mangan. On Feb. 3, Mangan was competing at the World Junior Championships in Switzerland when she got the call that she would be replacing Jackie Wiles,
who broke her fibula and tore her ACL, MCL and meniscus at another ski competition in Germany. With this last minute substitution, Mangan is the final person named to the United States Olympic team this year and the 244th athlete competing for Team USA. Mangan has been skiing since she was two years old and grew up taking on the mountains in Ellicottville, New York with the Holimont Race Team. She attended Nardin Academy in Buffalo, New York and is studying at biomedical engineering at Dartmouth. The upstate native competed with the National Training Group and has since been named to the Team USA Alpine B Team. In 2016, she medaled at the U.S. Alpine Championship, and finished 19th in alpine combined at the 2018 World Cup in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. At the 2018 FIS Junior World Ski Championships in February, she placed fourth in the Super-G.
Unfortunately, Mangan fell after losing her balance during her first run in the giant slalom, causing her to go airborne and hit a restraining barrier. As a result of this crash, she was one of 11 skiers who failed to complete the first run and placed at the bottom of the group. Since only the top 30 athletes qualify for the second run, she did not move on. Mangan is also slotted to compete in the super combined later this week. The U.S. alpine ski team is made up of 64 percent returning athletes, so new blood in the Olympic competition with the additions of Mangan and Merryweather is exciting. With these two additions, Dartmouth now has a total of 16 athletes and two coaches competing in the Olympic or Paralympic Games, a new record for the College. This is the fourth installment in the Dartmouth’s 2018 Winter Olympics coverage.
Men’s baseball adjusts to lineup changes for spring opener By JUSTIN KRAMER The Dartmouth Staff
Last season, Dartmouth baseball finished 22-17-1 overall and 11-9 in Ivy League conference play, but the team understands that no success is guaranteed in the quest for its first Ivy League Championship since 2010. “I try to always remind the players, you never pick up where you left off,” head coach Bob Whalen said. “You start at 0-0 from the beginning of the year.” With most of its core returning and a strong first-year class, Dartmouth is poised for a successful season. The Big Green is predicted to finish third in the Ivy League Baseball Preseason Media Poll. Nonetheless, Whalen knows the team has have some work to do to replace its graduated class. “You have to anticipate change in this business — there’s no free agency,” Whalen said. “Guys graduate and they move on, so you try to prepare for that to the best of your ability.” The pitching rotation in particular took a blow with the losses of Ivy League Pitcher of the Year Beau Sulser ’16 and Michael Danielak ’16, both of whom were drafted by Major League franchises in 2017. Relief pitcher Chris Burkholder ’17 will be missed as well, as he collected eight of Dartmouth’s 11 saves last season. “Those three guys ended up pitching just under 50 percent of our conference innings,” Whalen said. “To absorb that, you’re going to have to spread it around a little bit more.” Team co-captain and top-10 2018 Ivy League draft prospect Dustin Shirley ’18 is confident that the team will naturally take care of their rotation vacancies. “We’ve got a bunch of younger
guys in the freshman class and guys that have been in the program for a while that can potentially step up and fill that void,” Shirley said. Co-captain Cole O’Connor ’19 figures to head the rotation, having lead the team in innings pitched after Danielak. Beyond O’Connor, however, the rotation remains a question mark. “One of our biggest questions this year that has to play itself out is how you replace those innings,” Whalen said. “We’re going to try to identify our top five or six starters but not expect them to go that deep because they’re just not ready for that yet.” O’Connor and Shirley mentioned some players who are vying for primary rotation and bullpen spots this spring. “Jack Fossand [’18] threw a great game against the University of Central Florida who was rated [No. 26] last year when we beat them,” Shirley said. “He had a little bit of a setback, but he’ll definitely be in there competing and helping us win. Same thing with Clay [Chatham ’18]. He throws pretty hard, he can locate pretty well and throws offspeed for strikes.” O’Connor added that a handful of first-years may have prominent roles this season. “We have some good power arms, big guys like Carson Seymour [’21] and Sai Davuluri [’21] will be out on the mound along with Max Hunter [’21] and some other guys,” he said. The departure of defense-first catcher Adam Gauthier ’16 adds another layer to Dartmouth’s pitchercatcher batteries next year. For Whalen, finding the right fit at catcher is a top priority. “In our system, we ask a lot from the catchers, both mentally and physically, to work with the pitchers and try to understand what their strengths are and make the guy on the mound better
that day,” he said. The default option seems to be Kyle Holbrook ’18, who led the team with a .329 average last year as an outfielder. Still, as Whalen explained, catching three games in a week can be difficult, and Holbrook has hit better as an outfielder than as a catcher. “It’s just a physically demanding and mentally demanding position behind the plate,” Whalen said. “How [the catching situation] plays out will in large part depend on how the other younger and new catchers develop.” Dartmouth brought in two first-year catchers this season, Logan Adams ’21 and Bennett McCaskill ’21 and they have been performing well to this point, according to Whalen. The other key lineup cog to graduate was last year’s team captain and first baseman Michael Ketchmark ’17, who led the team with a .527 slugging percentage and five home runs. Potential candidates to replace Ketchmark include Michael Calamari ’20, who held a team-best .446 onbase percentage last season, as well as versatile first-years Oliver Campbell ’21 and Ubaldo Lopez ’21, both of whom play outfield. While the seven returning starting position players from last season are not guaranteed their positions, the rest of the lineup figures to look relatively similar. On the left side, Justin Fowler ’18 and Nate Ostmo ’19 look to build on their success from last year as the starting third baseman and shortstop, respectively. Shirley looks to regain his sophomore year form at second base, where he hit .301 in a team-high 166 at bats. “My junior year I stopped making self-oriented goals and said that ultimately I want to be the guy in the lineup who gets the job done to help the
COURTESY OF DUSTIN SHIRLEY
D1Baseball.com named men’s baseball co-captain Dustin Shirley ’18 a top-10 Ivy League draft prospect for the 2018 season.
team,” Shirley said. “If it’s runner on second base no outs, hit a groundball to the right side. If I need to bunt, get the job done bunting.” Matt Feinstein ’19 and Trevor Johnson ’20 are expected to maintain their every day starting spots in the outfield. Whalen projects both to ignite the offense this year. “[Johnson] had a fantastic first year last year,” Whalen said. “He’s a plus runner, a plus defender in center field and hit at the top of the lineup and was a huge contributor to our lineup and offense as a first-year player last year. [Feinstein] made a tremendous jump from his freshman year to last year.” Infielders Blake Crossing ’20, Sean Sullivan ’19 and Steffen Torgersen ’19 have made strides this off season and are expected to push for more playing time. “It isn’t just about stacking batting averages,” Whalen said. “You’re trying to create a lineup that has a flow to it and has some rhythm, and has the ability to get guys on, get them over and get them in.” Whalen has placed an emphasis on making sure his team is well-rounded, realizing pitching, defense and offense
are all needed in order to win an Ivy League Championship. “If you can pitch and defend, you always have a chance, but if you can’t score runs you can’t win,” Whalen said. “We don’t pride ourselves on one part of the game.” O’Connor and Shirley detailed some other main philosophies that Whalen preaches in the clubhouse. “He’s a pretty old school guy,” O’Connor said. “He wants us to play confident, play disciplined and be the toughest team out there to go battle and play well in the tough spots at the end of the game.” Whalen underscores the importance of a strong work ethic and a devotion to success. “Our mantra is, ‘Show up and work hard everyday,’” he said. “There’s no leap to greatness. We’re not in it to be a solid team. You show up every year with the objective and the goal of trying to win an Ivy championship. Part of your ability to have a chance to do that is to have a short term focus — let’s just get a little bit better everyday.” The Big Green will start its spring season this Friday in a three-game series at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2018
Griffith’s Got Stats with Evan Griffith ’18
A ‘Wild Season’ for NCAA Men’s Basketball Makes To u r n a m e n t P re d i c t i o n s Difficult It’s been an eventful week for Ivy League men’s basketball. The Big Green was able to pick up its first two wins in conference play, taking down Brown University and Princeton University. The Tigers are completely falling apart, losing their last six games and currently coming in at seventh in the Ivy League. On the other hand, Yale University, who defeated the Big Green 77-65 this past Friday, has won three of its last six games. Despite losing star player Makai Mason to injury, the Bulldogs are starting to find their rhythm again as a team. There are many interesting happenings in Ivy League play, but I want to step away from the conference bubble and take a look at NCAA basketball as a whole this week, because this season is wild. On Feb. 3, three blue-blood b a s k e t b a l l p ro g r a m s, D u k e University, the University of
Kansas and the University of Kentucky all lost on the same day — the first time since March 6, 2005. Likewise, on Jan. 27, Duke and the University of North Carolina both lost on the same day for the first time since Feb. 21, 1973. Then this past Thursday, fifth-ranked University of Cincinnati, sixth-ranked Purdue University and eighth-ranked Ohio State University all fell to unranked teams. On the other side, St. John’s University, a team that started off play in the Big East conference with 11 consecutive losses, won four straight games seemingly out of nowhere, including two straight wins over then-fourthranked Duke and then-top-ranked Villanova University. General NCAA Tournament bracket advice is looking harder to give than ever before, with so many top teams losing so often. This past Sunday, the NCAA Selection Committee, which is in charge of picking and choosing the teams that participate in the NCAA Tournament, released the 16 teams that would comprise the top four seeds in each region. The number-one seeds at the time were Purdue, the University of Virginia, Villanova and Xavier University. Virginia and Villanova only had two losses at the time, Xavier had three and Purdue had four; a respectable number for a top seed. In the premier matchup of the week, Villanova demolished Xavier 95-79 in Cincinnati on Saturday, but lost to unranked Providence College 76-71 on Wednesday. Villanova has been ranked in the top six in the Associated Press poll all season, and the Wildcats certainly have been flashy all season. According to KenPom.com, Villanova has the best effective field
goal percentage in the country, at 60.2 percent. The problem with Villanova is that it relies too much on the three-point shot — 38.9 percent of Villanova’s total points are points from three-point shots, which is the 25th-highest in the nation. When Villanova has an off-night shooting from beyond the arc, the team suffers. In their two most recent losses this season, the Wildcats have shot a combined 11for-53 from the three point arc. The NCAA Tournament is also unkind to teams that rely too much on the three. Going back to 2013, four of the past five national champions’ percentage of total points that come from threes have been less than this season’s national average of 31.3 percent. The only exception was, curiously, Villanova when it won on a buzzer beater against North Carolina; its percentage that year was 33.4 percent, compared to a national average of 29.4 percent. When teams that shoot often from beyond the arc get hot, they can win games, but it’s very difficult to sustain that shooting through six games in the NCAA Tournament. Vi l l a n o v a ’s m o s t r e c e n t opponent, fellow Big East member Xavier, is currently ranked fourth in the AP poll (although that may change on Monday following the team’s loss to Villanova), the highest ranking in program history. Xavier only has four losses at the moment, with two of them to Villanova. The Musketeers have beaten strong teams outside of the Big East, including a convincing victory over cross-town rival and currently fifth-ranked Cincinnati in December. The cause for concern is that Xavier is an offensiveminded team that stinks at defense. Xavier is currently putting up an
SW 7
adjusted offensive efficiency of 121.5, seventh best in the nation, with a 100.3 adjusted defensive efficiency, 70th in the nation. This imbalance may prove dangerous in the NCAA Tournament. A notable comparison is the 2014 Blue Devils. Duke’s offensive and defensive efficiencies were ranked first and 86th, respectively, in the nation at the start of the tournament in 2014. Duke was a No. 3 seed but lost to 14th-seeded Mercer University in the first round. Similarly, Georgetown University’s profile in 2013 was 80th and fourth on offense and defense, respectively. It was also a No. 2 seed and lost in the first round to 15th-seed Florida Gulf Coast University. Still, Xavier is the fourth-luckiest team in the nation. If the Musketeers can lock up the No. 1 seed, they should be fine as a 16th seed has never beaten a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. However, be on the lookout for a second round upset if this is the case. T hen we have Purdue, a team noted for developing tall players for the National Basketball Association. Purdue’s current big man is Isaac Haas, who measures 7 feet, 2 inches and weighs 290 pounds. Even with this once-in-adecade player on Purdue’s roster, the rankings release seems to have cursed Purdue. The Boilermakers had already lost two straight before the selection committee released the rankings, albeit to Ohio State and Michigan State University, the two other best teams in the Big Ten Conference. After the rankings were released, Purdue lost to the University of Wisconsin, a team that’s currently 5-10 in conference play. In the next committee rankings, Purdue probably won’t
have the No.1 seed, and with a game against a suddenly surging bubble team Pennsylvania State University on the horizon this week, Purdue needs to find the momentum it had when it won 19 consecutive games earlier this season. This leaves Virginia as the last team on the dissection table. Virginia is playing stifling defense this season, with an adjusted defensive efficiency of 82.7, best in the nation and the lowest since KenPom started tracking statistics in 2002. If you’re noticing a trend among these teams, you may guess that Virginia’s offense isn’t very good. It’s currently putting up an adjusted offensive efficiency of 114.9, 41st in the nation, but that low number doesn’t really matter when you can win games after you score only 59 points by holding the opponent to 44, as was the case with my hometown squad Syracuse University on Feb. 3. Virginia’s issue comes back to shooting. Virginia’s Ty Jerome is 11-of-39 (.282) from behind the three-point line in Virginia’s last 10 games. Virginia’s current leading scorer Kyle Guy is not much better from three, with a percentage of .321 in his last 10 games. If your team has two great guards who suddenly forget how to shoot, that doesn’t bode well come March if they can’t improve. At this point, I don’t have a definitive prediction of the top NCAA tournament seeds or the NCAA champion. I suppose that out of the four teams I discussed, Virginia is probably the best, but the team still has issues. When the top teams in the nation all have pretty noticeable flaws, it’ll make for an interesting bracket season for sure.
Tough weekend losses conclude women’s ice hockey’s season By JAKE PHILHOWER The Dartmouth Staff
The Dartmouth women’s ice hockey team concluded its season with a difficult road trip against Clarkson University and St. Lawrence University. Dartmouth has largely struggled with tough competition this year. Despite Clarkson and St. Lawrence both currently ranked in the top 10 in the NCAA, the Big Green hoped to finish its season off strong. No. 2 Clarkson has been a powerhouse in Eastern College Athletic Conference hockey this year, proving to be a top competitor for the conference and national championship. On Friday, the Golden Knights wasted no time in showcasing their talent, scoring two goals in the first period. This early lead was key as Shea Tiley, Clarkson’s goalie, proved to be difficult to beat, blocking all 23
shots taken by Dartmouth. The Big Green struggled to find the back of the net throughout the game, and eventually allowed two more goals in the third period. Clarkson proved why it is difficult to beat at home, ultimately defeating the Big Green 4-0 on Friday and Harvard University 3-1 on Saturday to end the regular season tied-for-first in the ECAC with Colgate University. “Clarkson was the toughest team we played this year,” defenseman Caroline Shaunessy ’19 said after the game. “They are the defending national champions and just didn’t make many mistakes at all.” Though Tiley was able to record a shutout, goalie Christine Honor ’19 still had an impressive game, recording 42 saves and a save percentage of over 91 percent. This was an impressive performance considering Honor was facing one of the best teams in the country with a rowdy crowd.
“Despite being an extremely talented team, [Clarkson] also [has] a pretty rowdy band that likes to heckle the visiting team,” Honor said. “They got some pretty good chirps in on me for sure, but it’s all fun and in the nature of the game.” In the season finale, the Big Green played at No. 8 St. Lawrence University, who is positioned to make a playoff run of its own. Like Clarkson, St. Lawrence also scored two goals in the first period. Honor put up stout defense, blocking 26 shots. Shannon Ropp ’19 blocked three shots in the last period, but St. Lawrence was able to score one on her as well. The Saints were able to find the back of the net five times throughout the game, blanking the Big Green 5-0. Though Dartmouth ended its season on another tough loss, its numbers were decent. The Big Green recorded 27 shots on goal
in comparison to St. Lawrence’s 34, the difference coming from an impeccable performance by Saints’ goalie Sonjia Shelly. The Big Green, despite finishing 5-19-3 overall and 3-16-3 in conference play, proved that it was resilient and unafraid to play against some of the toughest competition in the nation. This “noquit” attitude will help cultivate a great culture which will help return the Big Green to its winning ways in years to come. “I am incredibly proud of my team this year,” captain Hailey Noronha ’18 said after her final game with the Big Green. “Even though our record wasn’t what we wanted it to be, we never stopped giving it everything we had. That’s not easy to do.” Though this year proved to be difficult for the women in Green and White, it still did not come without its highs and memories.
The team was still able to get a few big wins and beat some of the best ranked teams in the country. There was no better example of this than the game at Quinnipiac University on Oct. 27, 2017. “My favorite moment this season was probably our 1-0 win against Quinnipiac early in the season,” Honor said. “It was a well-fought win, and everyone worked so hard to beat one of the top teams in the league and country. It was also [interim head coach Joe Marsh’s] birthday, which made the win that much better.” Looking forward, the Big Green will look to its young players. Next year, the team will return 18 players, notably defensemen Tess Bracken ’19 and Honor, who will have one more year of game experience under their belt. “I am very excited for my team next year,” Noronha said. “I just wish I was a part of it.”
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
SW 8
SPORTS
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2018
TODAY’S LINEUP
NO EVENTS SCHEDULED
Among Dartmouth skiers, skiing is a family affair By EVAN MORGAN
The Dartmouth Senior Staff
When men’s alpine skier Tanguy Nef ’20 was finally home in Switzerland for Christmas — during a long winter break that saw him complete 18 races across three countries — he knew he needed to relax. So Nef strapped on his skis once more and headed out with his family for a weekend of fun in the Alpine village of Saas-Fee. The sport has a peculiar hold on those who practice it. Skiing pulls you in. If you ski, there’s a good chance your brother skis as well. Maybe you grew up racing against your sister. More than likely, your parents put you on snow before you were 10 and you never left. “It’s definitely a family affair,” alpine skier James Ferri ’19 said. This is especially true among skiers at Dartmouth, with its talented ski team and deep roots in the American skiing scene. An abbreviated list of current Big Green skiers with family connections to the sport includes Peter Fucigna ’21, whose four older sisters raced in college, three for Dartmouth; Lauren Jortberg ’20, whose sister won the 2014 NCAA Championship with the University of Denver; and Foreste Peterson ’18, whose mother was a member of the first class at the Stratton Mountain School and whose sister raced at the University of Colorado. Sisters Meg Currie ’17 and Steph Currie ’20, both on the alpine team, are the latest pair of siblings to race together at Dartmouth. For Ferri, who grew up spending weekends at his grandparents’ house in Killington, Vermont, ski racing was a natural pastime. He started racing when he was six. He and his two brothers attended Killington Mountain School, a Vermont ski academy. Today, his older brother Michael Ferri races for Colby College, and Paul Ferri is set to race for the Mules in 2020. A back injury kept James Ferri off the slopes during his first two years at the College. His first-ever race for Dartmouth was the giant slalom at last weekend’s Dartmouth Carnival. James Ferri wore bib 36, while Michael Ferri wore bib 56. “I saw [Michael Ferri] in inspection and rode the lift with him before I went,” Ferri said. “It
COURTESY OF LEAH BRAMS
Cate Brams (left), a senior at Middlebury College, cheers on younger sister Leah Brams ’20 (right) as she competes in a classic race.
was really nice to race against him again because that was actually the only the second time this year that we raced against each other.” Nordic skier Leah Brams ’20 and her older sister Cate Brams, a senior at Middlebury College, also racing against each other last weekend. The two have been competing together since they were junior skiers on the Cambridge Sports Union Nordic team. “Skiing is great because it is such a family activity,” said Leah Brams, adding that because the Cambridge Sports Union team took winter training trips, “it evolved into being all of our family vacations were going somewhere to ski for a week.” Leah Brams said college has brought a different tenor to her relationship with her sister. With Leah Brams at Dartmouth, a perennial powerhouse in the East, and Cate Brams at Middlebury, which despite a talented roster generally ranks below Dartmouth and the University of Vermont, “there’s an underdog dynamic,” Leah Brams said. At the same time, Leah Brams noted she and her sister have grown closer together during college. They lived and trained together in Bend,
Oregon this past summer, along with a host of other Nordic skiers, including Jortberg and Nordic women’s captain Zoe Snow ’18. Leah Brams has been able to cheer for her sister as she has turned heads in 2018, finishing in the top10 six times this season, including a pair of podium performances. “[Cate Brams] really threw everything she had into [skiing] this year and really blew up in a good way,” Leah Brams said. “It’s so great to see her do so well.” For Sam Morse ’20, one of several of U.S. Ski Team members that attend Dartmouth, the family connection to skiing goes back three generations. “My grandfather ... came up to Dartmouth when he was a kid, and [the College was] doing ski camps for kids,” Morse said. “He learned to ski on the Dartmouth golf course.” Morse’s grandfather went on to attend Dartmouth and built a house in Okemo, a resort area in south-central Vermont. Morse’s father became a skiing junkie in turn, settling in Carrabassett Valley, Maine, home to Sugarloaf Mountain. Sugarloaf, Morse said, is a deep, icy and challenging
mountain that molds talented skiers by necessity. Morse and his older brother were Sugarloafers from birth. “Skiing is just what you did,” Morse said of growing up in Carrabassett Valley. “The mountain was our playground. Even when we were pretty young, they would just let us go out on the mountain by ourselves.” Older brother Ben Morse ’14 was an outstanding skier in his own right, a member of the U.S. National Team, fourtime competitor at the NCAA Championships and three-time captain of the Dartmouth team. When Sam Morse got his turn to race, he said his brother’s success made his own career easier. Each took a similar path from Carrabassett Valley Academy to the U.S. Ski Team to Dartmouth. Ben Morse guided his brother in many of the finer aspects of skiing, from tuning skis to navigating corporate sponsorships. “He was kind of the test dummy,” Sam Morse said. “I wouldn’t be anywhere close to where I am today if it wasn’t for him.”
Nef, a member of Sweden’s national team is the only member of his family to race at a high level. But in one way or another, his family is invested in the sport. All are capable skiers. Nef ’s father is a former ski instructor. His older brother Laszlo Nef is currently a ski instructor and an expert technician who Tanguy Nef consults to help improve his racing. Tanguy Nef ’s younger brother Arsène Nef never took up ski racing, but the two speak every day on the phone and Arsène Nef follows his older brother’s career intently. “My little brother is my number one fan,” Tanguy Nef said. A few Dartmouth skiers will go on to race after college. Most will hang up the race bibs and move on to other careers. But that doesn’t mean they will put away their skis. Ski racing is often just the most exciting chapter of a lifelong relationship with the sport. “Long after I’m done ski racing I look to teach my kids how to ski and go out and enjoy the mountains every day, always out there looking for the perfect snow, the perfect turn,” Sam Morse said. “Every time I come home it’s what we do — we go for a family ski. That’s how I know I’m back home.”