The Dartmouth Sports Weekly 2/26/18

The Weekend Roundup p. 2–3

2.26.18

Already a strong team, Dartmouth skiing got better in 2018 p. 8 Griffith’s Got Stats: Bubble Teams p. 7 Men’s soccer welcomes new head coach Bo Oshoniyi p. 6 Dartmouth hosts track and field Ivy League Heptagonal Championships p. 6 Big Green Olympians have strong showing in PyeongChang p. 4-5 MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

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The weekend Roundup

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2018

ICE HOCKEY

Compiled by ERIC VAUGHN AND ANDREW WRIGHT

LACROSSE

In its first road game of the year, Dartmouth men’s lacrosse team lost to Boston University 10-4 on Tuesday. BU led the whole game after scoring twice early in the first period.

Shortly after, Dartmouth struck back with an unassisted goal by Matt Paul ’21 to make it 2-1, but that was the closest the Big Green would come for the rest of the game, as BU rolled on to a commanding 6-1 lead that it would not relinquish.

Four days later, the team fell 1711 at Sacred Heart University. The

Pioneers scored five goals in the first period, and despite a six-goal Dartmouth rally in the third period, the home team pulled away in the final frame. Paul and George Prince ’21 both scored three goals apiece, with Prince adding four assists as well.

Women’s lacrosse picked up its first win of the season 13-3 on Wednesday agains the University of New Hampshire. Katie Bourque ’20 and Ellie Carson ’20 netted hat tricks, and Dartmouth outscored its opponents 10-0 in the first half.

TIFFANY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The Big Green swept Yale University this season, clinched by its win this past weekend.

MEN’S SQUASH

W BASKETBALL

The No. 5 men’s squash team ended its season at nationals in the first round of the Potter Cup, losing to No. 4 St. Lawrence University 9-0. The Saints moved on to the semifinals while the Big

Green fell to 11-5 on the season.

Despite being unable to win a match, many of the Dartmouth players put up valiant efforts, with five players reaching four or five games.

Princeton University swept the season series by beating Dartmouth 79-67 at Leede Arena on Friday.

A 29-point second quarter by Princeton helped blow the game open, and despite Dartmouth rallying at multiple points in the game, it could not regain the lead. Isalys Quiñones ’19 played all 40 minutes and had a standout

The Big Green opened the weekend with a huge victory over Yale University in a game with important playoff implications. Led by Quin Foreman ’21, whose hat trick was the first in 15 years for a Dartmouth first-year, Dartmouth completed the season sweep of Yale and clinched home ice in the first round of the upcoming Eastern College Athletic Conference championship. Dartmouth raced out early with a 3-0 lead in the first period and stretched that to a 6-2 lead in the second, which was more than enough to hold off a late Bulldog rally.

The men fell flat the following day in a 3-0 loss to Brown University, the ECAC’s 10th seed. After a scoreless first period, Brown put two past Adrian Clark ’20 in the second frame and added an insurance goal on the power play in the final period. Clark finished with 24 saves.

Dartmouth finishes the regular season at 13-14-2 overall and 11-10-1 in the ECAC, its best conference mark in the past three seasons. The Big Green will host bottom-seeded St. Lawrence University beginning Friday.

TRACK & FIELD

performance with 22 points.

O n S at u rd ay, D a r t m o u t h dropped its final home game to Penn 79-50. Dartmouth was outscored by 15 in the first quarter, and couldn’t mount a rally, though Kate Letkewicz ’18 had a solid game with 16 points. Dartmouth fell to 14-11 on the season and 6-6 in the Ivy League.

SAPHFIRE BROWN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Ray Lu ’18 Editor-in-Chief

2.26.18 Vol. CLXXIV No. 189

Philip Rasansky ’18 Publisher

Erin Lee ’18 Executive Editor

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

Michael Lin ’20 Tiffany Zhai ’18 Photography Editors

Dartmouth hosted the Ivy League Indoor Heptagonal Championships in Leverone Field House.

Hosting the Indoor Heptagonal Championships, the marquee event of the indoor track and field season, the women’s track and field team took third and the men finished in fourth.

The women scored 96 points, led by Cha’Mia Rothwell ’20, whose repeat victory in the indoor long jump was a school record of 6.27 meters and whose 60-meter hurdles time on Sunday of 8.20 seconds was not only an Ivy League record but a New England one as well. Rothwell’s performance netted her the honor of Female Field Perfomer of the Meet, as she added a secondplace finish in the 200-meter dash to finish with 28 points to her name. Julia Valenti ’20 took the

title in the pole vault, the first for a Dartmouth woman since 2000, with a height of 4.05m/133.50. Maria Garman ’19 added eight points with a second-place finish in the high jump, reaching 1.77m.

On the men’s side, the Big Green put up a total of 71. Justin Donawa ’19 took the Ivy League title in the triple jump with a jump of 15.57m while Ben Ose ’19 scored 5,430 points to win the heptathlon. Adding to Dartmouth’s strength in the multi events, Ben Colello ’18 took third in the heptathlon and Matt Sindelar ’18 finished fourth.

Tim Zepf ’21 got an exciting eight points in the 800-meter run, edging Columbia University’s Josiah Langstaff for second place by 0.01 seconds.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2018

SW 3

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

M BASKETBALL The University of Pennsylvania routed Dartmouth 74-46 in a rough performance by the Big Green on Friday at the Palestra.

The Ivy League-leading Quakers held a 20-point lead by halftime and continued to dominate in their second half. First-year Chris Knight ’21 still had a strong performance, pacing the team with 15 points and six rebounds.

The Big Green dipped to 6-19 (2-10 Ivy) with a 64-47 road loss

to Princeton University. Brendan Barry ’20 led Dartmouth with 12 points. A pair of Barry threepointers in the final minute of the first half pushed the Big Green into double digits as the half ended 24-14 in favor of the Tigers.

Dartmouth’s shooting improved from 20 percent to 32.3 percent in the second half, but Princeton ran out to a 20-point lead after halftime, and Dartmouth could not get much closer.

SOFTBALL

MEN’S TENNIS

ISHAAN JAJODIA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Pitcher Breanna Ethridge ’18’s senior season started this past Friday.

The Dartmouth softball team began its season at the Florida Atlantic University Strikeout Cancer series on a sour note, with five consecutive losses to the University of Tulsa, Texas State University, University of Illinois at Chicago, twice, and FAU this past weekend.

Dartmouth’s opponents had all played four or more games in 2018, and their experience helped them put a hurt on Dartmouth,

HOLLYE SWINEHART/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The men’s tennis team has 13 wins this season, already more than last year’s 11.

No. 14 Dartmouth men’s tennis dropped its first match of the season this weekend against the University of Iowa, narrowly losing 4-3 at the Boss Tennis Center. Max Fliegner ’18 and Peter Conklin ’21 got a 6-0 win in No. 3 doubles, but wins for Iowa at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions gave the Hawkeyes the doubles point. In singles, David Horneffer ’20 tied up the match with a win at No. 2, and straight-set wins from Fliegner and Conklin gave Dartmouth the 3-2 edge. In the end, Hawkeye victories against Charlie Broom ’20 at No. 1 and Casey Ross ’21 at No. 6 gave Iowa the win.

The team followed this up by splitting a pair of Sunday matches against Old Dominion University and Boston University. After taking the doubles point against Old Dominion, the Big Green was swept in singles. No. 101 Dan Martin ’21 came close in both sets against No. 109 Aziz Kijametovic but lost 7-5, 7-5. Dartmouth took the doubles point again against the Terriers and this time was able to capitalize. Victories by Roko Glasnovic ’19 at No. 4 and John Speicher ’21 at No. 2 put the Big Green up early before a 6-2, 6-1 victory for Broom at No. 1 clinched the match for the Big Green.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

The Dartmouth women’s tennis team fell to No. 4 Duke Un iver s ity 7 -0 on Sunday, bringing its record to 5-5. In a match where four of the six singles players faced by the Big Green in singles ranked in the

ITA top 100, the Big Green managed to gain points against the Blue Devils in every game.

The team will look to bounce back this weekend as it hosts the University of Massachusetts at the Boss Tennis Center.

BASEBALL

The men’s baseball team was swept in its first series of the season against the Georgia Institute of Technology, falling to the Yellow Jackets 10-0 on Friday afternoon and 12-9 and 11-5 in a doubleheader Saturday. In Friday’s game, Sean Sullivan ’19 had the first hit of the season for Dartmouth with a single in the top of the first. But Georgia Tech’s Xzavion Curry stymied the Big Green by throwing 72 of his 91 pitches for strikes in seven innings of

work. A five-run second inning provided half of Georgia Tech’s offense.

The Dartmouth bats were much more active in the doubleheader, including 15 hits in the first matchup and home runs from Justin Fowler ’18 and Nate Ostmo ’19. The Yellow Jackets hit four round-trippers, however, to get the win.

Dartmouth began the nightcap with a 4-0 lead, but four more home runs powered Georgia Tech to another win.

Swimming & Diving

The men’s swim and dive team scored 561 points at the Ivy League Championships at Princeton University, taking seventh place. With the suspension of Brown University’s swim team due to a hazing investigation, only seven teams competed.

Harvard University scored 1,630.5 points en route to its second consecutive Ivy League championship.

On day one of the meet, the 800-yard freestyle relay team of Connor LaMastra ’21, Bruno Korbar ’18, Carter Jacobsen ’19 and Tony Shen ’18 broke the school record with a time of 6:34.43 seconds, good for sixth place.

LaMastra and Henry Senkfor ’18 swam NCAA B cut times on the second day of the meet,

outscoring the Big Green 30-2. Breanna Ethridge ’18, Heather Turner ’21 and Shelby Wilkison ’21 took turns in the circle throughout the weekend. Dartmouth’s only runs came in a 3-2 loss to UIC on Saturday. With two outs, the Big Green loaded the bases and Morgan Martinelli ’19 doubled down the left-field line.

But UIC added another run later in the inning to seal the game.

LaMastra in the 500-yard freestyle and Senkfor in the 200-yard IM. LaMastra earned another B cut the following day, taking sixth in the 400-yard IM. Josh Hendell ’20 also took 14th in the 1,000-yard freestyle, while Matt Luciano ’21 was 15th in the 100-yard butterfly.

Day four was led by LaMastra’s ninth place finish in the 200-yard butterfly, again making an NCAA B cut. To finish off the week, the men’s 400-yard relay team took seventh, just over a shy of the school record.

Highlights of diving included Justin Sodokoff ’21’s eighth-place finish on the 1-meter board and 11th-place finish on the 3-meter board.

SKIING The Dartmouth ski team took home its second consecutive Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association title this weekend with several individual victories at the Middlebury Carnival, beating the University of Vermont by 138 points. Dartmouth and UVM were close in the overall standings until only one Catamount skier was able to finish the women’s giant slalom.

Katharine Ogden ’21 swept the women’s cross country races and the men’s alpine team also topped the podium on both days as Tanguy Nef ’21 won the slalom and Brian McLaughlin ’18 took first in the men’s giant slalom. Men’s alpine head coach Peter Dodge ’78 was named the EISA Alpine Coach of the Year, the third such honor in his 29-year career.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2018

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SW 4

Big Green Olympians have strong

With high expectations and an arsenal of veteran Olympians, D

BY LUKE GITTER, JAKE JOHNSON, JUST

The Dar

Nordic Skiing

COURTESY OF REESE BROWN

Despite finishing 19th in the freestyle sprint in 2014, Ida Sargent ’11 finished 33rd and missed the quarterfinal qualification.

Dartmouth demonstrated a strong presence this Winter Olympics in cross country skiing as five American Dartmouth a l u m n i a n d o n e B e r mu d a n represented their home countries in Pyeongchang. Three American women alumni, Rosie Brennan ’11, Ida Sargent ’11 and Sophie Caldwell ’12 had official results posted, while Patrick Caldwell ’17

competed for the United States and Tucker Murphy ’04 skied for Bermuda. Discretionary selection Annie Hart ’14, a teammate of Caldwell’s at Dartmouth and on elite ski team SMS T2, was a member of the team but did not compete.

L o n g t i m e w o m e n’s c ro s s country skiing coach and head of Dartmouth skiing program Cami

Thompson Graves coached all four female alumni who were on the U.S. cross country ski team.

“I think that’s one of our overarching goals to help athletes be able to [reach the Winter Olympics],” Thompson Graves said. “It’s really cool to have them take on skiing and keep skiing outside of just what we do here.”

Brennan competed in the

women’s 15-kilometer skiathlon, finishing 58th out of 60 in her Olympic debut. Brennan came out of the gates faster, holding onto 45th place after 7.5 kilometers of classic skiing, but slid to back of the pack in the second half freestyle portion. She clocked with a time of 47:36, 6:51.1 minutes behind winner Charlotte Kalla of Sweden.

Sargent finished 33rd in the Sprint Classic. Her time of 3:25.80 left her less than two seconds short of quarterfinal qualification, as the top 30 skiers move on in the competition. Sargent had finished 19th in the Freestyle Sprint in 2014.

Sophie Caldwell had the most success of any Dartmouth Nordic skier, both as an individual in the Sprint Classic and as a team member of the 4x5-kilometer relay. Caldwell breezed through the qualifying rounds and quarterfinals to the semifinals, where she fell just .18 seconds shy of a finals appearance. She finished eighth overall with a time of 3:17.06.

She made the finals four year prior in Sochi in the Sprint Freestyle, finishing sixth overall.

“Sophie [Caldwell] probably had the best shot of doing well, and her best race was eighth which is pretty solid, but she had been sixth,

so it would’ve been nice to have a little bit more,” said Thompson Graves.

Caldwell led off in the 4x5K relay for the U.S., helping set the pace to the U.S.’s fifth place finish.

Their time of 52:44.8, 1:20.5 behind winner Norway, put them a couple spots away from the podium.

Thompson Graves was not sur prised in the slightest by Caldwell’s success.

“Sophie [Caldwell] grew up skiing, and it’s awesome to watch her move on her skis,” she said.

“She’s very graceful and knows how to particularly do well when she’s racing head-to-head, and how to maneuver around other people.”

Her cousin, Patrick Caldwell, made his Olympic debut, racing in the 30-kilometer skiathlon.

Caldwell finished 51st out of 65 with a time of 1:23:18.1.

Murphy raced for Bermuda in his third straight Winter Olympics, finishing 104th in the 15-kilometer freestyle with a time of 43:05.7. He finished 88th in the same event in 2010, and 84th in the 15 kilometer classic in 2014. Murphy, the first Bermudan skier to compete in the Olympics, is a figurehead off the trail as well; he carried the flag in 2010, 2014 and 2018 for Bermuda.

Women’s Ice Hockey After five hard fought games in PyeongChang, Dartmouth’s Laura Stacey ’16 and head coach Laura Schuler faced heartbreak as the Canadian women’s ice hockey team lost to the Americans in the Olympic gold medal game 3-2.

Going into the gold medal game, Canada was 4-0, defeating each team it faced in the preliminary rounds of the tournament. Starting with a 5-0 win on Feb. 11 against the Olympic Athletes from Russia. Russia was banned from competing under its flag in this year’s Winter Olympics due to the 2014 doping scandal in Sochi. In that first game, Stacey, a forward for the Canadians, saw her tournament high of 11 minutes and 14 seconds of ice time during this game with an average shift time of 37 seconds.

Under the guidance of head coach Schuler, the team won their second Group A game against Finland 4-1 and their next contest versus the United States 2-1, a short-lived edge over the Americans who would prove their worth later in the tournament.

The winning record allowed Canada to skip the quarterfinals game and automatically get a bid to the semifinals.

During the semifinal game against the OAR, Stacey recorded an assist on Canada’s fourth goal of the game scored by Emily Clarke at the start of the third period. Stacey spent 9:30 on the ice and posted her tournament high of 38 second average shift time. The team was able to dominate the ice once again and advance to the gold medal game on Feb. 21 at the Gangneung Hockey

Centre.

In the gold medal game, Stacey saw 8:41 of ice time and played 30 second shifts. Jocelyne Larocque, the defenseman who caused controversy for removing her medal during the ceremony after the game, saw over 30 minutes of ice time, while Laura Fortino recorded the highest time on the ice out of any player on either team at 35:52, playing 46 second shifts. In comparison, the highest total ice time for a Team USA player in this game came from defenseman Megan Keller with 29:05.

Team USA’s victory was sealed by twin sisters Jocelyne LamoureuxDavidson, who tied the game in the final period, and Monique Lamoureux-Morando, the last player to put the puck in the back of the net. With the game tied, the

two teams faced off for an intense 20 minutes of overtime play before heading to a shootout. Olympic rookie Maddie Rooney held the net for Team USA, while veteran Shannon Szabados goaltended for the Canadians.

Hilary Knight and Monique Lamoureux-Morando scored for the Americans while Haley Irwin and Marie-Philip Poulin were able to keep Canada in the running, tying the game 2-2.

After five rounds of nail biting action in a shootout, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Morando got the pick around Szabados and Rooney made one final save on Meghan Agosta’s second shot of the shootout to seal Team USA’s victory. The tables turned from four years ago when Canada was able to equalize the final

game against the U.S. in the final minutes of the third period in Sochi.

With the game forced to overtime, Canada shocked the Americans and ended up winning 3-2.

This year’s uncharacteristic loss was especially painful for Schuler, who lost against Team USA in the gold medal game in 1998 at the Winter Games in Nagano, the only other time the Canadian women’s team has not placed first in the Olympics. With the exception of 1998 and 2018, the Canadian team has always clinched gold in women’s hockey. While the results of the tournament were not what Schuler nor Stacey could’ve anticipated, their performances were incredibly commendable and they were still rewarded for their hard work with a silver medal.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2018

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

showing at 2018 Winter Olympics

Dartmouth affiliates stay neck-in-neck with other elite athletes.

TIN KRAMER AND CAITLYN MCGOVERN

rtmouth

Biathlon Of the 10 biathletes representing team USA, two of them once called Dartmouth home.

Susan Dunklee ’08 is a twotime Olympian and is the second person in her family to hold that title. Her father, Stan Dunklee, competed in the 1976 and 1980 Olympics in cross country skiing, and her uncle found his way to the Olympics for cross country skiing back in 1972. Dunklee looked to improve upon her already strong performance from the 2014 Games in Sochi where she ended with an impressive 11th place finish in the mass start and a 14th place finish in the sprint start, among a few relay appearances.

This time around, Dunklee found the most success in the 15-kilometer individual race where she posted a top-20 finish out of 87 competitors. In that race, Dunklee led the four Americans with a 19th place finish. Dunklee cleared all of her shots from the prone stages and her only blemishes came in her standing stages. It was a nice turnaround for Dunklee after her underwhelming 66th place finish in the 7.5-kilometer sprint earlier in the week. In an interview with Team USA representatives, she was “bummed about that [race],” but Dunklee also remarked that the biathlon is a sport that requires

and teaches resiliency, which is no surprise given her ability to bounce back and give an outstanding performance days later.

Dunklee appeared in two other races for Team USA, claiming 15th in the mixed relay and 13th in the women’s 4x6-kilometer relay.

The other Dartmouth c o m p e t i t o r i n t h e b i at h l o n was Emily Dreissigacker ’11.

It was always in the cards for Dreissigacker to be an Olympian, yet surprisingly, the original plan never included the biathlon. Both of Dreissigacker’s parents and her aunt were Olympic rowers, and her older sister, Hannah Dreissigacker ’09 Th’10, competed at the 2014 Olympics in the biathlon.

During her time at Dartmouth, Dreissigacker was on the varsity rowing team and tried to follow her family’s legacy and competed for a spot on the Olympic rowing team for years, though she came up short. When an injury forced her to stop rowing for a few months, she turned to cross country skiing to stay in shape. Four years later, she found herself at the pinnacle of a cross country skiing-based sport.

Dreissigacker competed in four races during the Olympics: the sprint, pursuit, individual and relay. By placing in the top-60 in the

7.5-kilometer sprint, finishing 51st overall, Dreissigacker qualified to compete in the 10-kilometer pursuit. She was the only American to qualify for the pursuit, where she improved relative to her fellow qualifiers up to 47th place.

In the individual, Dreissigacker

started off on a bad foot after missing two of her shots from the prone position, which is unusual, considering Dreissigacker views that to be her stronger of the two shooting positions. Dreissigacker found a way to finish on a higher note, hitting 13 of the remaining

15 targets and her performance yielded a 67th place finish.

Dreissigacker combined efforts with Dunklee in the women’s 4x6kilometer relay. Together, the Big Green alumni worked with their teammates to beat five other nations, coming in 13th place.

COURTESY OF BILL KELLICK

Emily Dreissigacker ’11 finished 51st out of 87 in the 7.5-kilometer sprint at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Alpine Skiing Six Dartmouth alums and current students represented Team USA in the alpine skiing events.

Two-time Olympian David Chodounsky ’08, three-time Olympian Nolan Kasper ’14, Tricia Mangan ’19 and Alice Merryweather ’21, along with two other athletes, represented Team USA in the alpine skiing team event, which made its Olympic debut in this year’s Games. Of 16 teams, Team USA finished ninth in the event.

In a thrilling race, Mangan, who had replaced the injured Jackie Wiles, lost to Britain’s Alex Tilley by just .06 seconds.

Bad luck continued for the U.S. after Chodounsky lost his pole early

in the race, forcing him to ski around the gates rather than pushing them out of the way.

“It would have been nice to do better,” Chodounsky told TeamUSA.org. “This is one of my favorite events, for sure. I feel like I’m pretty good at it, just a little bit of bad luck today.”

The Americans were tied 2-2 going into the 1/8 final but Kasper finished just .19 seconds behind Britain’s fastest male, Dave Ryding.

Together with Tilley’s win, Britain advanced to the second round.

Led by slalom silver medalist and combined bronze medalist Wendy Holdener, Switzerland won the overall event. They defeated heavily-

favored Austria 3-1 in the final.

Merryweather, who had won the downhill title at the world junior championships last March, was named a reserve athlete to the alpine team event squad.

Unfortunately, the Big Green skiers couldn’t catch a break in the individual events. Andrew Weibrecht ’09, who had won a silver medal in Sochi and bronze in Vancouver, was disqualified from the Super-G event when he skied off course. This was the only Olympic skiing event Weibrecht participated in this year.

Mangan took a nasty tumble after catching an edge in Olympic debut run in the women’s giant slalom event and didn’t advance past the second

round.

After finishing 26th in the in 2010 but missing the 2014 Games, Tommy Ford ’12 finished 20th in the giant slalom.

“I was in Vancouver and pretty overwhelmed and here I’m able to enjoy it and be a part of it,” Ford said. “It’s definitely a special event and I’ve learned to appreciate that more and more.”

Chodounsky competed in the Olympic slalom, finishing 18th overall, while alpine team event teammate Kasper did not finish in the men’s alpine slalom.

Merryweather also competed in the Alpine Combined, the final women’s alpine event. Alongside

teammates Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin, Merryweather started at No. 24, and finished 15th with a time of 2:26.90 behind Shiffrin’s 2:21.87, good for second.

“The Olympics are as big as it gets.” Merryweather told Wicked Local. “I think that experiencing this ultimate level of sport will make the World Cup circuit a little less intimidating, and hopefully boost my confidence going into not just the rest of the season, but also the next few years.”

Although Team USA didn’t come out with a medal, the Big Green athletes competed hard and soaked in the Olympic experience and are already looking forward to 2022.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2018

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SW 6

Men’s soccer welcomes new head coach Bo Oshoniyi

By MAYA MOTEN

The Dartmouth Staff

Spring is often a time for new beginnings, and that will certainly be the case for the men’s soccer team as they head into the season with a brand new coaching staff led by head coach Adegboyega “Bo” Oshoniyi.

The Feb. 13 announcement of Oshoniyi’s appointment did not come as a surprise to the Big Green players who learned of former head coach Chad Riley’s departure at the beginning of winter term, according to forward Eduvie Ikoba ’19. “[Riley] talked to us in a meeting on Jan. 4; however, we didn’t find out about assistant coach [Ryan Fahey] leaving until later,” Ikoba said. “Initially [he] was still looking at the head coach position [but he] ultimately decided to move on after a while.”

Riley and his assistant coaches stepped down on Feb. 1 from the men’s soccer team after Riley was named head coach at the University of Notre Dame, his alma mater, following the retirement of former Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark. Before moving to Dartmouth, Riley also served as assistant coach for the Fighting Irish under Clark. At Dartmouth, Riley led the team to four consecutive Ivy League titles during the 2014-2017 seasons, the

second time in Ivy League history after Brown University accomplished the feat from 1973-1976.

Several of the players had a feeling that Riley would be appointed as new head coach for Notre Dame.

“When the retirement happened, a few of us knew that [Riley] would be considered for the job, but coming in, all we could do is be prepared for next season,” defender Matt Ranieri ’21 said. “I think [Riley] leaving was a bit of the surprise but it wasn’t a huge surprise since we did know that he was going to be a candidate.”

Despite being coachless after the announcement was made, several upperclassmen stepped up to continue running practices three times a week. “[We] have from [Riley] a structured practice of warm-ups,” Jonathan Nierenberg ’18 said. “We do some sort of drill and then go into playing so we’ve been trying to follow that. It’s [mainly] been the seniors and [other upperclassmen] taking charge.”

In addition, several players — Yima Asom ’18, Justin Donawa ’19, Nierenberg and Ranieri — served as representatives of the team during the hiring process and met with several candidates.

“We wanted to have the seniors’ input and we wanted to have a younger guy meet [Oshoniyi] as well since they’re

going to be here longer,” Ikoba said.

“While the group was there they just asked questions and offered input to the hiring committee.” “[Senior associate athletics director Megan Sobel] slotted out 40 minutes to talk with the candidate and ask them questions,” Nierenberg said. “After that, we would fill out a survey and tell her how we felt, how it went and what we think of the candidate. It was nice because we were able to have a bit of a say. Ultimately, it was up to [Sobel] but she let us meet with them and give [the hiring team] our feedback, which was great.”

During the hiring process, the team immediately took to Oshoniyi.

“Right off the bat I liked what he was about,” Ranieri said. “He gave his opinions and he got straight to the point of what he wanted to do: to keep this streak going. He told us what he would bring with him in order to make our team better. He made a strong connection with all the guys and we [thought he was] one of the best candidates.”

Prior to accepting the role as head coach here at Dartmouth, he served four years as head coach of East Tennessee State University’s men’s soccer team, where it won back-to-back Southern Conference titles during the last two seasons, leading the team to its first-ever

Dartmouth hosts track and field Heps

By SABA NEJAD

The Dartmouth Staff

Dartmouth hosted the Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Championships this past weekend at Leverone Field House. Heps brought together all eight Ivy League schools to compete for the conference title. Dartmouth gets the chance to host the championship every four years,.

The men’s team ended up in fourth place after a Sunday push thanks to Justin Donawa ’19, who placed first in the triple jump. Dartmouth won the heptathlon event for the 12th time in school history, this time by Ben Ose ’19 with 5,430 points. Ben Colello ’18 was third with 5,202 points and Matthew Sindelar ’18 was fourth with 4,927 points. Among heptathletes, Colello finished first in the 60-meter hurdles and shot put and Sindelar finished first in the high jump.

The women’s team finished in third place thanks to strong individual performances. Cha’Mia Rothwell ’20 earned two first-team All-Ivy League honors in the long jump and the 60-meter hurdles. She also took second place in the 200-meter dash, earning 28 total points for the Big Green, the most of any student-athlete. Rothwell was named Female Field Performer of the Meet.

Other notable performances

included Julia Valenti ’20’s first-place finish in the pole vault. Maria Garman ’19 and Camille Landon ’21 picked up 14 points for the Big Green in the high jump, taking second and third, respectively.

Zachary Plante ’18 who ran the 400-meter prelims on Saturday and the 400 leg of the distance medley relay on Sunday found hosting Heps extremely special.

“There’s something magical about Heps no matter where it is, but to have it here, with parents and friends, and to be in Leverone, where I’ve considered home for the past three years, there’s something even more magical about having it here,” Plante said.

Rothwell, who got first place in the 60m hurdles and the long jump both last year and this year, broke her school record and set a new New England record on Saturday in the 60m hurdles. She bested former Olympian and Boston University athlete Sharon Colyear’s 1981 time of 8.21 seconds by running the event in 8.20 seconds.

In the long jump, she bested her 2017 jump of 6.17 meters by jumping 6.27 meters, a new school record.

According to Rothwell, her long jump results earlier in the season were disappointing.

“I kept doing my own thing and trusting [jumps coach Tim Wunderlich ’09], and it came on at the right time so

what better way to end the indoor season in long jump than a school record and a personal best,” she added.

Men’s track and field co-captain Amos Cariati ’18 noted that he was less nervous than years past due to the fact that, as one of three captains he dealt with lots of logistical details that kept his mind off the competition, which he was grateful for. He ran in the 400-meter preliminaries on Saturday and finished second by .07 seconds. He didn’t move on to finals on Sunday but was the anchor for the 4x400-meter relay.

“Bringing it home with the alumni back and the whole building erupting was an incredible moment,” Cariati said.

Cariati noted how beneficial competing at home was for the team.

“The home track advantage is always nice since we know when to cut and how to position ourselves better, but the real benefit of having it at home was all the support,” Cariati said.

He was surprised and thankful to see all the support the team got.

“Even [College President Phil] Hanlon was there,” Cariati said.

Wunderlich said that since the meet was home this year, expectations were high. However, everyone outperformed what was predicted.

“We were extremely happy with the result and look forward to the outdoor season,” Wunderlich said.

MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

After five years under Chad Riley, men’s soccer passes the reins to Bo Oshoniyi.

bid in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.

Under Oshoniyi’s leadership, East Tennessee beat top-ranked opponents like No. 1 North Carolina and No. 15 Kentucky, and took four other ranked teams into overtime.

Since coming on as the new Big Green coach, Oshoniyi has already begun connecting with his new squad.

“We spoke with him over the phone as a team before lift the other day,” Nierenberg said. “He just wanted to say that he can’t wait to get up here.

He’s really excited to work with us and while this may be a transition period he doesn’t want us to think about it — he just wants us to think about continuing our goals.”

With the arrival of the new coach, team members are hopeful for the new opportunities to come.

“I think it’s gonna be good for the whole team, as having a new coach means that everyone will have to have to perform at a high level,” Ikoba said. “There’s no bias as there might have been in the past. [Oshoniyi] understands that our team is very talented and it will be nice for players to fight for playing time or have a different position. We’re waiting to see what will happen.”

With a new coach awaiting them in the 2018-2019 soccer season, the men’s soccer team hope to continue its strong performance in the Ivy League.

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2018

Griffith’s Got Stats with Evan Griffith ’18

Bubble teams It’s getting closer people. The time of the year when families come together during college basketball’s biggest stage and say things like, “I picked the wrong upsets this year,” “Duke is overrated” and “Where in the country exactly is Creighton again?” As the selection committee prepares to pick the teams to field the NCAA Tournament, I’d like to take a look at some of the teams that are right on the edge of making the tournament and if these teams have a chance of making some noise down the stretch.

Bubble teams are teams in a major conference like the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East, Big Ten, Southeastern Conference, Big 12 or Pac-12 that may or may not make the NCAA Tournament. These teams will

more likely than not be seeded at No. 10 to 12, and four of these bubble teams will have to play a play-in game against other bubble teams for the chance to make the tournament. These teams have the chance to do well in the tournament, so they are worth paying attention to.

My hometown team Syracuse University in 2016 was one example of a bubble team exceeding expectations in the NCAA Tournament. The team was having a tumultuous season and the middle of the season was marked by head coach Jim Boeheim’s ninegame suspension, during which the Orange went 4-5 and lost its first three ACC matches. After a loss to the University of North Carolina at home the game of Boeheim’s return, the Orange would win eight of its next nine games, including wins over then-25thranked University of Notre Dame and then-20th-ranked Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. The Orange would then drop five of its last six games and make the tournament as a No. 10 seed, finishing with a 19-13 record while going 9-9 in ACC play.

The rest is history. Syracuse pulled off an improbable Final Four run, beating 7-seed University of Dayton, 15-seed Middle Tennessee State University, 11-seed Gonzaga University and 1-seed University of Virginia, coming back from a 14-point deficit in the final 10 minutes against Virginia. Syracuse then lost to 1-seed University of North Carolina in the Final Four, ending its run.

As is seemingly tradition, Syracuse

is again very much on the bubble this season. Currently, Syracuse has an 1811 record, with a 7-9 record in ACC play.

Sophomore guard Tyus Battle is the leader of this team; he currently leads Division I players in minutes played per game, averaging 38.7 minutes out of a possible 40. This stat is indicative of how thin Syracuse is on the bench.

Battle has played in 95.3 percent of the team’s minutes, first in the nation, junior guard Frank Howard in 94.1 percent, fifth in the nation and first-year forward Oshae Brissett plays in 93.1 percent, 10th in the nation. These three players play almost the entire game for the Orange, and as one might expect, Syracuse’s bench makes up 17.4 percent of the team’s minutes, last in the nation.

Injuries have played a role, and Syracuse currently has seven healthy scholarship players on its roster; the bench is made up of backup forward Matthew Moyer and backup center Bourama Sidibe.

That’s it. Syracuse is stretched as thin as possible, and the Orange still don’t have a win over an opponent ranked in the top-25 — its best win is a road victory over the University of Louisville.

Syracuse is offensively challenged; its effective field goal percentage is 47.6 percent, No. 311 in the nation. The team’s schedule is also brutal down the stretch, traveling to Boston College before hosting 15th-ranked Clemson University to close out their season. I don’t know if Syracuse can make the tournament with seven players and the schedule it has but if it can make some noise in the ACC Tournament, the

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committee might be impressed.

Another team on the bubble is fellow upstateNewYorkschoolSt.Bonaventure University. St. Bonaventure is a member of the Atlantic 10 conference, currently led by 18th-ranked University of Rhode Island. St. Bonaventure is currently 22-6, with an 12-4 record in A-10 play.

Because it’s a mid-major program, St. Bonaventure doesn’t play many toptier programs but it beat Syracuse and Maryland this year, and unlike Syracuse, also has a ranked win, beating Rhode Island once. St. Bonaventure’s star player is senior guard Jaylen Adams, the team’s leading scorer who started off February with two back-to-back 40-point games. If the Bonnies want to make the tournament, they’ll most likely have to win out.

Another mid major program that’s not exactly a bubble team is Middle Tennessee. The Blue Raiders are a part of Conference USA, a conference that traditionally only sends one team to the NCAA Tournament per year. Middle Tennessee is no stranger to causing first round upsets; the team has made the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons. In 2016, the 15-seed Blue Raiders upset No. 2 Michigan State University in the first round, and in 2017, the 12-seed Blue Raiders upset No. 5 University of Minnesota in the first round. Middle Tennessee, who sits at 23-5 overall and 15-1 in conference play, is in first place in Conference USA by one game, and it plays second-place Western Kentucky University this Thursday. If Middle Tennessee can

hold on to first place, it is currently projected by Joe Lunardi at ESPN to be an 11-seed playing against No. 6 Florida State University. This game would be a battle of the boards; Florida ranks 28th in offensive rebound percentage, while Middle Tennessee ranks 10th in defensive rebound percentage. Expect this game to be high on a lot of people’s upset lists.

To close this week, if you’re looking for a game to watch, wait until next Sunday to watch currently 11th-ranked University of Cincinnati (25-4, 14-2 AAC) travel to 13th-ranked Wichita State University (23-5, 13-3 AAC) in a season finale that may have firstplace implications in the American Athletic Conference. Wichita’s sixthranked offensive efficiency (122.2 points per 100 possessions) will go up against Cincinnati’s second-ranked defensive efficiency (87.8 points per 100 possessions) in the game of the week.

Wichita State won the last matchup 76-72 earlier this season behind senior center Shaquille Morris’ 13 points, three rebounds, two blocks and two steals. However, Wichita State struggles defending the shot and creating turnovers on defense; the Shockers are ranked eighth out of 12 teams in the conference in both categories.

Cincinnati’s offense is not excellent by any means, with a 45th-ranked offensive efficiency of 114.8 points per 100 possessions but I think it’s good enough to get the road win and lock up first place in the American.

Prediction: Cincinnati wins 73-71.

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SW 8

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2018

TODAY’S LINEUP

SPORTS

NO EVENTS SCHEDULED

Already a good team, Dartmouth skiing got better in 2018

By EVAN MORGAN

The Dartmouth Senior Staff

Men’s alpine skiing head coach Peter Dodge ’78 walked up the stairs in Robinson Hall on Saturday night with a large silver bowl in his right hand. The Dartmouth ski teams had just returned from Middlebury College, where they won a second straight Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association title.

“We’ve got some trophies,” said Dodge, with the understatement of a man who has been coaching collegiate skiing for 29 seasons.

Things continue to go right for the Dartmouth ski teams. With the 2018 carnival season in the books the Big Green proved that its strong 2017 season was clearly no fluke. Dartmouth equaled or exceeded most of its 2017 numbers in 2018.

The biggest improvement came in men’s alpine. After averaging just under 110 points per race last season, the men’s alpine team jumped to 126 points per race in 2018. Much of the credit goes to Tanguy Nef ’20. The Swiss national teamer made his presence felt last season with three podiums in the giant slalom. But he found a higher gear this season, finishing the year ranked first in slalom and second in giant slalom. Brian McLaughlin ’18, the top men’s alpine skier in the East last season, ended 2018 ranked first in the giant slalom and second overall.

And Thomas Woolson ’17 remained a consistent top-five threat.

“I had a goal of qualifying three guys in the first starting group,” Dodge said.

Nef and McLaughlin finished in the first starting group — the top five skiers in the conference, who will ski first at the NCAA championships along with the top five skiers from the West — while Woolson landed one spot outside.

Nearly all of Dartmouth’s growth came in the slalom. The Big Green averaged 97.8 points per slalom race last season. For any other EISA team (with the exception of the University of Vermont), that would have been a strong number. For Dartmouth, accustomed to scoring well over 100 points per race, it was a disappointment.

Returning to form in 2018, the Big Green’s average slalom score swelled to 124.8 points, helping the team pull away from UVM over the course of the season.

But the men’s alpine team is not the best-performing group of skiers in Robinson Hall. That honor goes to the women’s Nordic team. Tops in the East by a wide margin last season, women’s

Nordic only added more talent for 2018. With juniors Lydia Blanchet ’19, Taryn Hunt-Smith ’19 and Emily Hyde ’19 as well as sophomores Leah Brams ’20, Abby Drach ’20 and Lauren Jortberg ’20, the Big Green already had an impressive carnival team. The addition of Katharine Ogden ’21 and Sofia Shomento ’21 made Dartmouth very hard to beat.

After getting over an illness that limited her in the first half of the season, Ogden has won five straight races including both contests at Middlebury.

In the 15-kilometer mass start freestyle on Saturday, she skied with a group on the first lap, biding her time before making a break on the second lap.

Ogden won by more than 30 seconds.

“It looked like she wasn’t even working hard,” women’s Nordic head coach Cami Thompson Graves said.

“She has a good race head and she’s not afraid to go hard.”

Ogden will represent Dartmouth at the NCAA Championships alongside Blanchet and Jortberg, who both missed time to compete at February’s Junior World Ski Championships in Switzerland yet still gathered seven carnival podiums between them.

Scoring 130.2 points per race, the women’s Nordic team was the most dominant Big Green squad on the carnival circuit.

In women’s alpine competition, a Dartmouth team heaping with talent finished the season neck and neck with an improving UVM squad. Foreste Peterson ’18, coming off her World Cup debut in October, continued to be the bulwark of the team. Like last season, Peterson was the top NCAA qualifier for the Big Green with Alexa Dlouhy ’19 hot on her heels. But to focus only on Peterson and Dlouhy would leave out the real story of 2018: the impressive depth of the Big Green. Of the top 15 athletes in women’s slalom and giant slalom, seven ski for the Green and White. Claire Thomas ’21 turned heads late in the season with a string of top-five giant slalom finishes. Kelly Moore ’18 did not crack the All-East first team, composed of the top five skiers, as she did last season, but she made the second team along with Steph Currie ’20. Meg Currie ’17 also continued to place well.

The Catamounts improved noticeably in 2018 thanks to a pair of impact first-years, Francesca English and Josefine Selvaag. Meanwhile, UVM’s Paula Moltzan won all six slalom races and vied with Peterson for giant slalom wins all season. But Dartmouth’s depth helped fend off

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UVM

EVAN MORGAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

the hungry UVM squad in five of six carnivals in women’s alpine.

The men’s Nordic skiers were outpaced by the UVM men this season — but only by a hair. Dartmouth reached a midseason peak at the Dartmouth and UVM carnivals, when the team grabbed three podium spots.

The past two weeks brought slightly lower finishes, which head coach Brayton Osgood ’03 attributed to bad luck and low energy levels after a long season and academic term.

Overall, the Big Green averaged 109.6 points per race, the Catamounts 110.3. A few factors drove the shrinking gap. The improvements of Luke Brown ’18 and Callan DeLine ’18, seeded second and fifth in the East, boosted Dartmouth. At the same time, the departure of Fabian Stocek ’17 left a big hole that has only been partially filled.

And the men’s cross-country landscape was less of a Dartmouth-UVM monopoly than alpine and women’s Nordic, leaving more points on the board for the whole field. It added up to a lot of back and forth competition as Dartmouth won the men’s Nordic

competition in just two carnivals.

If this discussion has made one thing clear, it’s that the 2018 NCAA Championship has a lot of potential — and a lot at stake — for the Big Green. Eleven of Dartmouth’s 12 representatives to the 2017 NCAA Championships skied for the College in 2018. But next year, the Big Green will lose some big names to graduation: Peterson and Moore,

McLaughlin and Woolson, Brown and DeLine. And Nef, though still a sophomore, may opt to make the leap to the European circuit.

Next season, the Big Green will remain a top ski program and will probably duke it out with UVM every week. But it’s not easy to rebuild an NCAA team with more than half of it gone. Dartmouth should hope that its seniors are ready to go out with a bang.

EVAN MORGAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Katharine Ogden ’21 was a women’s Nordic revelation this season.