The Dartmouth Sports Weekly 10/10/2016

10.10.16 Introducing: NARP Meets World with Matt Yuen ’19 p. 8 Just a Bit Outside with Sam Stockton ’19 p. 7 ..

Zoe Leonard plays volleyball with childhood hero p. 5 The Big Green Weekend Roundup p. 2-3

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A look at men’s soccer’s 2016 season

by Alexander Agadjanian p. 4

ANNIE DUNCAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SW 2

The weekend Roundup

Compiled by james handal, evan morgan and emma sklarin

VOLLEYBALL The women’s volleyball team fell in both its Ivy League games against Yale University and Brown University this weekend. The Bulldogs swept the Big Green in three sets, 17-5,925,20-25, on Friday while the Bears beat Dartmouth, 3-1, on Saturday, 11-25,19-25,25-21,16-25. The Big Green is now 6-9 overall and 0-5 in Ivy play, under first year head coach Gilad Doron.

Emily Astarita ’17 led the Big Green in the contest against Yale with eight kills, eight digs and two block assists.

Sierra Lyle ’19 recorded nine digs, while Molly Kornfeind ’17 had five kills.

In the game against Brown, Kaira Lujan ’16 led the Big Green with nine kills followed by Kornfeind and Danielle Glinka ’17, who recorded six kills each. while Corinne Cox ’20 made 13 assists, while Zoë Leonard ’19 made 12. Brown took the first two sets, but the Big Green grabbed the third with dominant play. Brown, however, regained momentum and controlled the fourth set to take home the victory.

The Big Green recorded eight team blocks while the Bears recorded 13.

The Big Green return home this weekend to face Cornell University and Columbia University to continue conference play.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2016

Cross-Country “This race was a lot of teams from the Northeast, so some teams bring their top 7, some don’t. It’s a big field, but the times are not quite as competitive as some of the bigger meets. Everyone pretty much had a good day – a lot of improvement from the past race we had there.”

- ELIZA DEKKER ’19 The men’s cross country team had a strong showing at the New England Cross Country Championship this weekend, finishing 13th with 318 points.

In the 8-kilometer race, Dominic Carrese ’19 led the way for Dartmouth, finishing 26th place with a time of 25 minutes and 27.45 seconds. Sean Laverty ’20 was right behind Carrese with a time of 25:40.70 to put him in 45th place. Benjamin Szuhaj ’19 placed 56th at 25:56.33. Dom

Repucci ’20 finished the course in 26:14.27 followed by Will Shafer ’18 at 26:38.67 for 81st and 110th-place, respectively.

The women’s cross country team posted a strong sixth-place finish at the same meet as the men on Saturday at Franklin Park. The team’s top five runners scored 173 points. The University of New Hampshire won with 71 points. Out of 234 competitors, Leigh Moffett ’18 finished fifth overall in the 5-kilometer

with a time of 17:58.88 to lead the Big Green. Lauren Sapone ’20 ran 18:25.43 on the course and placed 20th. Eliza Dekker ’19 and Julia Stevenson ’20 also had top-30 finishes and placed 24th and 27th, respectively. Allison Anderson ’20 also scored for the team, coming in 97th overall.

Up next, the men’s and women’s teams will compete in the NCAA Pre-Meet in Terre Haute, Indiana on Saturday.

football

EQUESTRIAN “It was very dusty, very windy, so we all got covered with dust, but we also got covered with blue ribbons.”

- MEG RAUNER ’17, CO-CAPTAIN The equestrian team had its first show of the season this weekend at Middlebury College. On Saturday, the team tied for Reserve Champion, coming in second to high-scorer of the day Endicott College. Sophie Lenihan ’20 won the Open Fences class, followed by teammates Lilly Higgins ’20 in second and Olivia Champ ’19 in third. Claire Bick ’18 came in second place in the Intermediate Flat class, and co-captain Meg Rauner ’17 won the Novice Flat class, qualifying her for the Intermediate Flat division for the rest of the season. Charlotte Johnstone ’17 came in first in the Walk/Trot class and earned Dartmouth Reserve Champion placing.

On Sunday, the team faced off with nearby colleges at their second show at the University of Vermont.

The University of Vermont won the show on home turf, a typical result for a home team given the familiarity with the horses used in the show. Dartmouth tied for Reserve Champion with the University of New Hampshire. Bick won the Intermediate Flat class, and Sophie King ’19 won the Advanced Walk/Trot/Canter class. Johnston came in second in the Walk/Trot class and classed up to Beginner Walk/Trot/Canter. This was ’19 Sue Mohieldin ’19’s first IHSA show, and she won, closing off the weekend with a victory.

SAILING The Big Green sailing team competed at the David Lee Arnoff Interconference Regatta on Oct. 8 and 9, hosted by Hobart and William Smith Colleges. The team had a strong showing, coming in third with 97 points in a group of 13 teams racing 420s this weekend, only finishing behind Hobart and William Smith Colleges and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Boston University and Old Dominion University were in attendance, joining Hobart and

William Smith and the Big Green as ranked attendees by the Sailing World College Rankings released on Sept. 28. Dartmouth also competed in the Moody Trophy Interconference Regatta in Rhode Island this weekend, racing FJs against 16 other teams. The team came in 10th place, with a total score of 112. Ten of the top 20 teams in the same Sailing World College Rankings were present, seven of which placed ahead of the Big Green.

Photo by ANNIE DUNCAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF After a promising start, the Big Green finds itself on a two-game skid.

“We knew going in that it was going to be a dogfight, and then we just came out and we didn’t really execute on some crucial third downs. I think that our defense kept us in the game but our offense wasn’t able to put points on the board when we really needed them. Yale had an explosive offense and they were hitting hard on defense.”

- DREW HUNNICUT ’19 In their 100th matchup in program history, the football team fell, 21-13, to Yale University at the Yale Bowl on Saturday in front of a crowd of over 9,000 fans. Dartmouth stands at 2-2 overall and 0-2 in conference play, while the Bulldogs are 1-3 overall and 1-1 in league play.

Dartmouth scored first, off a 13-yard touchdown

by Stephen Johnston ’18 to lead 7-0. David Smith ’18 kicked a 26-yard field goal to put the Big Green up, 10-0, with a minute left in the first quarter.

However, Yale dominated the second quarter, scoring two touchdowns and lead 14-10 at halftime.

In the third quarter, Smith scored another field goal,

but the Bulldogs answered with a 43-yard touchdown run by Alan Lamar to extend its lead and put the game away.

Junior quarterback Jack Heneghan ’18 went 3257 and threw 348 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. One of Heneghan’s interceptions came late in the fourth quarter with the Big Green in the red zone. Drew Hunnicutt ’19 led the Big Green’s wide receivers with five catches for 77 yards and a long of 36.

The Big Green will play Towson University, who is 1-4 overall and 0-3 in CAA play, on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. on Memorial Field.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2016

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

MEN’S SOCCER

- MANNY ARTEAGA ’17, CO-CAPTAIN

“We’ve been focusing a lot on coming out to court, having good composure, and ‘playing green’ – being courageous on court and taking risks, but also being humble and gracious.”

- ALISON CHUANG ’19

In the first day of action at the Dartmouth Invitational this past Friday, the men’s tennis team went 6-2 in singles games against players from Brown University, Yale University, Amherst College and Binghamton University. In the first round, Max Fliegner ’18 and David Horneffer ’20 defeated their Brown and Binghamton opponents with great showings of 6-1, 7-5 and 6-2, 6-4, respectively. Diego Pedraza ’17 and Max Schmidt ’17 overtook their opponents in the second draw, while Eddie Grabill ’19 did so in the third draw. Roko Glasnovic ’19 and Paul Midgley ’18 lost close matches against Yale and Binghamton players in the third and fourth draws. Joey Haig ’19 closed out the first day with a final win against a Binghamton opponent in the fifth draw.

The team followed up with an 8-1 finish in singles and a 5-3 record in doubles on the second day. Fliegner, Horneffer, Pedraza, Schmidt and Grabill had big wins in the first and second draws. Glasnovic won his game in the consolation semifinal, 6-3, 6-2. Doubles also went well for the Big Green, with Glasnovic and Pedraza winning their quarterfinal match against the Binghamton team in the first draw before losing to the Yale team in the semifinal. Horneffer and Schmidt beat Brown in the quarterfinal of draw one, 8-5, and defeated Yale in the semifinal with a score of 8-6. However, Yale defeated Fliegner and Haig in the quarterfinal, 8-4, but the duo was able to win its consolation semifinal against Binghamton team, 8-4. Grabill and Midgley defeated Yale in the quarterfinal, 8-6, but fell to Brown in the semifinal.

In the final day, the team finished 4-1 in singles and 3-1 in doubles. Fliegner and Haig both finished with two wins in doubles and three wins in singles. The duo beat Amherst, 8-6, while Glasnovic and Pedraza beat Yale, 8-6.

The Big Green will look to improve upon its record and continue its success when it travels to Philadelphia for the ITA Northeast Regional Championship on Oct. 20.

The Big Green fell to the University of Pennsylvania 0-1 on Friday at Chase AstroTurf Field and fell at No. 1 University of Connecticut 2-9 on Sunday. The Big Green stand at 3-8 and 0-3 in Ivy play.

Goalkeeper Emma Plumb ’20 made 10 saves versus Penn before the goal in double overtime. The Big Green defensive unit stayed together after Penn came out strong towards the end of the second half. Penn was able to find the goal coming in the second overtime.

Penn dominated Dartmouth on offense, outshooting the Big Green 27-7.

No. 1 UConn subdued the Big Green on Sunday by controlling the game and having a strong defensive structure. Dartmouth fell 9-2 against the only unbeaten team in field hockey in the country. The Big Green’s all-time record is 0-19-2 against the Huskies.

UConn outshot the Big Green 42-5. The Huskies won back-to-back National Championships in 2013 and 2014, giving the Big Green a reason to keep its head held high.

Still, the loss is the Big Green’s fifth in a row.

Dartmouth returns home on Saturday to play Yale University at Chase AstroTurf Field at noon.

FIELD HOCKEY

The women’s tennis team performed well in Yale University’s Bulldog Invitational in New Haven, Connecticut this past weekend. On Friday, the team beat Yale, 2-1, in doubles and 5-2 in singles. Co-captain Jacqueline Crawford ’17 and Chuyang Guan ’20 beat Yale’s Sherry Li and Amy Yang, 6-4, in doubles, while Allison Chuang ’19 and Racquel Lyn ’20 beat Sunday Swett and Caroline Lynch, 6-2. Taylor Ng ’17, Crawford, Lyn, Guan and Allison McCann ’20 also won their singles matches.

On day two, the women faced Boston College and won one doubles match and three singles games. Crawford and McCann beat the Eagles’ Dasha Possokohova and Emily Safron, 7-5, before Crawford took Possokhova down in her singles match, 7-5, 6-2.

She continued her streak on Sunday against Stony Brook University by beating Devanshi Bhimjiyani and Ester Chikvashivili, 6-1 with Guan. Crawford also beat Bhimjiyani in singles, 6-0, 6-0, to cap off her six-match win streak. In doubles, Ng and Lyn beat their opponents, 6-2, while Shannon Mukerji ’18 and McCann won their match, 6-3.

The women will enjoy a break before returning to action on Oct. 20 with the ITA Northeast Regional Championship in New Haven once again.

Photo by ANNIE DUNCAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF Fouls played a critical role in the Big Green’s loss.

MEN’S TENNIS

women’s tennis

After defeating the University of New Hampshire, 1-0, last Wednesday, the men’s soccer team continued its successful run with a win over Yale University, 2-0, in its second Ivy League game. The Big Green now stands at 3-2-5 overall and 1-0-1 in Ivy play. The Bulldogs has a 1-4-2 overall record and a 0-1-1 conference record.

In a tight first half, the Big Green was able to find a breakthrough right before halftime with an unassisted goal from Matt Danilack ’18 in the 41st minute of play. The men continued with their offensive attack and increased the lead with a goal by Matt Greer ’18 off a pass from Justin Donawa ’19 and Noah Paravicini ’19 in the 61st minute. Dartmouth’s superb defense mangaged to hold Yale’s attack for the rest of the game, especially with four saves by co-captain James Hickok ’17. Dartmouth led in shots 10-6 and corner kicks, 2-0. However, Dartmouth did record more fouls than Yale, 10-8, including two yellow cards and a red card for Donawa.

Dartmouth will host the University Photo by ANNIE DUNCAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF of Pennsylvania at 4 p.m this Saturday. The win on Saturday was the team’s first multi-goal win in 2016

The Dartmouth women’s soccer team fell, 1-0, to Yale University in its third Ivy League game of the season. The Big Green is now 6-5-0 overall and 0-3-0 in Ivy play.

The first half was slow for both teams with each only making two shots. In the second half, the Bulldogs scored a goal in the 72nd minute after Yale’s Noelle Higginson took a shot from the 18 yards away to the top of the net. The away team closed the game out despite pressure from the Big Green. Despite outshooting the Bulldogs 9-5, the Big Green could not score with Yale outsaving Dartmouth, 7-2. Yale’s Aerial Chavarin earned a yellow card in the 89th minute of play, reflecting the Bulldogs aggressive style, which earned the team 10 fouls compared to Dartmouth’s four.

The Big Green returns to Burnham Field to host the University of Pennsylvania at 7 p.m.

WOMen’s soccer

“We were confident because UNH hadn’t played a team like ours that was competitive, that had players that can score goals and really cause chaos for that team, and we came up with a result that was more than necessary after tying so many games. The team has been a little frustrated, but after beating UNH and beating Yale last night, we’re starting to see glimpses of our potential.

SW 3

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SW 4

MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2016

Men’s soccer maintains focus despite more ties, less goals scored

By ALEXANDER AGADJANIAN The Dartmouth Staff

The men’s soccer team is the only varsity team at Dartmouth to achieve back-to-back Ivy League titles in the past few years. But even that claim might somehow understate the program’s successes when considering the critical role the freshman class played in both championship seasons.

In 2014, Matt Danilack ’18, Wyatt Omsberg ’18, Jonathan Nierenberg ’18 and Tyler Dowse ’18 that comprised the formidable freshman crop capable of holding down the team in the midfield and defense. A year later, freshmen Eduvie Ikoba ’19 and Amadu Kunateh ’19 tied for the most individual goals on the team. As a whole, the freshman class combined for just under 50 percent of Dartmouth’s goal production.

With one more year of development under their belts, these two stellar classes are primed to maintain, if not expand, on the Big Green’s dominance. Yet through 10 games, the 2016 season has not necessarily been smooth sailing.

A current 3-2-5 record makes for a .550 winning percentage, which is below the .750 mark from 2014 and the .650 percentage from 2015 at the same points in the year. Goal production has noticeably declined as well, down from 2.2 (2014) and 1.4 (2015) averages to a 1.1 mark in 2016 through 10 matches. Five of the 10 contests have frustratingly ended in ties, forcing the Big Green to play an extra 100 minutes of soccer in double overtime. In four of those, Dartmouth squandered a lead after scoring the first goal of the game. In its Ivy League season opener against Princeton University, the team lost a 2-0 lead against a 10-man Tiger team

and settled for a 2-2 tie.

But before any panic or real concern about this team’s developmental arc should set in, it’s worth considering its strength of schedule as an important context. A gauntlet of an early-season schedule entailed games against powerhouses, including the University of Kentucky, Xavier

its first 10 games, remains on the national radar as a formidable team.

Nevertheless, as head coach Chad Riley stressed, the ties, lost leads and greater challenges can be largely ascribed to this competitive out-ofconference start to the year.

When speaking about the four games that ended in a tie after Dart-

acterized these tough early schedules as valuable in setting the standard for the team.

Still, the decline in goals scored is certainly a concern for the players and coaches. Much of the struggle has to do with early season competition and stinginess from opposing defenses.

For Arteaga, the decline also en-

ALEXANDER AGADJANIAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

From 2014 to 2016, the men’s soccer team’s goals, shots and shots on goal have varied but feature similar trends.

University, the University of Washington and Seattle University. As of last Friday, that meant Dartmouth had experienced the second hardest schedule in the entire country according to RPI rankings.

Of course, it’s not as if this grueling slate of games left Dartmouth out of its league. Against the four notable sides mentioned above, Dartmouth drew twice and won once, and after

ANNIE DUNCAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

After two stellar seasons at midfield, Matt Danilack ’18 was named an assistant captain.

mouth lost its lead, Riley attributed this trend to the reality that when playing good teams, “they’re going to get chances.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s a fault. Sometimes when you have the ball more [with a lead], and had to play more,” he said. “So instead of defending all the time you’re attacking, so it’s a different mindset being switched on for the other team’s one or two chances.”

Under sudden death rules, which give the win to the team that scores a goal after regulation play ends, overtime periods often prove conducive to much more conservative styles of plays, making game-winners all the less likely.

Omsberg, a starting defender and assistant captain, said one of the team’s strengths in the past few years has been its fitness level, which proves essential when playing longer games.

“I don’t think we’ve lost an overtime game since I’ve been here,” he noted.

“Especially in college soccer, you get a little bit nervous in overtime. You don’t want to make any mistakes, the style of play starts to change.”

Playing a challenging pre-conference schedule has been the norm for Dartmouth since Riley’s arrival four years ago. Although the past preconference schedules may not have been as difficult as this year’s, this trend has served as key preparation for what led to Ivy League titles in the last two seasons, as well as a measuring stick — on a national stage — for the team’s growth. Accordingly, team co-captain Manny Arteaga ’17 char-

compasses a focus on Dartmouth’s own defensive character to set the foundation, from which all the team’s other exploits stem.

“We’ve definitely seen a decline in goals this year, but I think it’s in the nature of building a smarter team,” he said. “Sometimes you focus more on the defensive block [and] building from the back.”

While the goal-scoring output shrunk in 2016, other basic offensive metrics, including shots and shots on goal have not experienced a decline compared to the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Eleven goals is the lowest total through the first 10 games in the last three years, but Dartmouth still has tied its output for shots at this mark in 2014 to 2016, at a 13 per game clip, and has a middling shots on goal total in this span. In other words, these less important but still informative measures indicate Dartmouth’s offense has not stumbled too much. Instead, given the very strong statistical correlation between shots and goals, we should expect the Big Green to find the net more often as the season progresses.

If the Big Green does begin to reestablish its rhythm, its action on the wings will surely play a large part in a third consecutive championship run. Both in 2016 and in the recent past, Dartmouth’s offensive attack frequently emerges from combinations down the flanks of the field, with fullbacks and midfield wingers spearheading this movement upfield.

Riley praised the team’s wingers and fullbacks and their importance

in getting involved in attacks, which are central to his team’s style of play.

“It depends a little on the game, [playing] against narrow teams,” he said. “We’ve got guys willing to run into the box. So I think no matter what team [we’re] playing, doing well in wide areas is always going to be a key to our identity.”

Flank play in 2016 has also benefited from the repositioning of Alexander Marsh ’17. Although he played in the midfield during most of his Big Green career, the senior moved to right fullback during his senior year. However, that hasn’t diminished his role in the offense by much. Constantly making sprints down the right flank and whipping crosses into the goalmouth, Marsh has assumed a very active presence in generating offense from the wings.

That threat is complemented nicely on the opposite side of the pitch, where Dowse, a leftback, makes similar runs. Dowse’s involvement in Dartmouth’s offensive attack was clearest in the Ivy League opener against Princeton. Taking a pass from Noah Paravicini ’19, who sprinted down the left side, Dowse cut inside approaching the goal, lost his defender and coolly slid the ball into the net. Of course, the fullback play hasn’t always led to such direct goal-scoring results, but the flank threats these defenders provide by opening up on the wings with off-ball runs and overlaps has formed a key part of Dartmouth’s offense.

This aspect of the team’s playing style can also shed light on its lacking goal production. While crosses repeatedly flew into the box to create scoring opportunities in past seasons, Dartmouth hasn’t had as much success in finishing off the attacks and utilitzing such plays this year, Arteaga noted.

“I think that’s the biggest difference,” he said. “Getting more crosses causes chaos in the box. That’s where we found our greatest potential for scoring goals.”

With two consecutive shutout victories against the University of New Hampshire and Yale University this past week, the Big Green is starting to regain its creative identity on offense and suffocating pressure on defense.

Currently, the team is in a four-way tie for first in the conference, with Columbia University, Harvard University and Brown University. As it begins to wade deeper into conference play terrain, especially with a game against the University of Pennsylvania this Saturday, Omsberg noted his team’s dominance on the pitch will not abate any time soon.

“I don’t think we’re that far off,” the junior defender said. “This team has as much if not way more potential than past season. We’re really confident, we know we have a strong group. I think it’s just focusing on the little details, closing out games. I think we’re really close.”

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2016

SW 5

Big Green volleyball brings player and coach ‘full circle’

By SAMANTHA HUSSEY The Dartmouth

Growing up, every child who has ever played a sport has admired an older or professional player. While few ever meet their idols, even fewer have the opportunity to play for them.

Zoë Leonard ’19, however, is one of the few playing for her childhood idol Tara Hittle, an assistant coach for the women’s volleyball team.

For the Hawai‘i native and selfproclaimed “gym rat,” volleyball has been a constant in her life. Her father Chris Leonard introduced her to volleyball and she started playing when she could walk.

The sport, she said, helped her grow close to her dad, who served as her coach.

“I went to practice with [my dad] every day after school from kindergarten until I started playing on my first team when I was six,” she said. “I was playing with a bunch of 12 year olds and I just kept at it.”

Leonard credited the tightly knit volleyball community in Hawai‘i with helping her stay involved and improving her game.

For Leonard, Hittle and Kanoe Kamana‘o, two former student athletes for the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, were her main inspirations.

Leonards’ father was not surprised.

Because of how popular volleyball is in Hawai’i, he said his daughter was familiar with many of the Rainbow Wahine.

“For little girls growing up in Hawai‘i, [who] play volleyball, you certainly look up to the Wahine volleyball team,” Chris Leonard said. “They are rockstars. They play in front of 8,000 to 9,000 people a night and are on live television statewide.”

From 2004 to 2008, Hittle played volleyball and basketball at UH. She garnered several accolades, including Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year and second team all-WAC honors, while playing libero, outside hitter and more.

Kamana’o also boasted a list of collegiate achievements while playing from 2003 to 2006 as setter. During her career at UH, she started every single match and was named WAC Player of

the Year for three years straight.

Luckily for Leonard, her dad’s connections in the volleyball world helped her meet the team when she was 7 years old. Chris Leonard coached Ryan Tsuji, one of the former UH assistant coaches under head coach Dave Shoji, and managed to meet up with him and a handful of players that traveled to Leonard’s hometown of Hilo. Hittle was among the group of athletes. Chris Leonard remembered Leonard sitting on the side of the sand court at the Hilo Yacht Club to watch them play.

In between games, he said, she wanted to bump the ball around.

Chris Leonard vividly remembers that between one of the games she was peppering with Hittle on the side.

Although Hittle was hitting balls pretty hard at her, Zoë easily picked them up.

When Tsuji told Hittle to “take it easy,” Hittle replied, “No, she can handle it.”

“I clung on to the fact that she was playing with me and I was having fun,” Leonard said. “Ever since then, I was No. 3 because [Hittle] was No. 3.”

With her father in volleyball and the community so tightly knit, Leonard kept in close contact with Hittle and the rest of the team. She traveled to O‘ahu to attend Hittle’s senior night game and received an autographed jersey.

Dedicating herself to playing volleyball competitively, however, was not an easy decision despite how much she enjoyed the game and the inspiration that Hittle provided. In order to pursue volleyball competitively, Leonard chose to give up dancing hula and swimming, which were also important extracurricular activities for her at the time.

While reminiscing on her experiences, she admitted to experiencing a period when she wanted to quit volleyball but decided against doing so when she received acceptances for United States training programs while she was in middle school. “[That] was when I realized that yeah, [volleyball] was for me,” Leonard said.

Over the next few years, she continued progressing in volleyball with the Pilipa‘a Volleyball Club and Kamehameha Schools – Kea‘au, her high school team. Meanwhile, Hittle played professionally from 2010 to 2011 in Switzerland before accepting coach-

PAULA KUTSCHERA/THE DARTMOUTH

Tara Hittle and Zoë Leonard ’19 are working together as assistant coach and player.

ing positions at Doherty High School and Valor Christian High School in Colorado.

In high school, Leonard earned several accolades, including invitations to participate in the USA Women’s Junior A1 National Training Team.

By her sophomore year, she also started receiving recruitment notifications. She chose to play for Dartmouth because of the program’s competitive nature and the school’s academic reputation.

In her first year with the women’s team, Leonard played libero in all 88 sets. She led the team with 284 digs and recorded 49 assists and 27 aces.

However, before she could get too comfortable, the Dartmouth women’s volleyball team announced a complete coaching change. Former head coach Erin Lindsey took a new position at the University of Illinois after five years with the Big Green. In April, Harry Sheehy, director of Athletics and Recreation, named Gilad Doron as Lindsey’s replacement, and two months later, Doron named Eyal Zimet, a former men’s volleyball player for UH, as the first of two assistant coaches for the team.

Before Hittle was announced in August as the second assistant coach, Leonard learned of Doron’s decision through her father. Chris Leonard received a call from Tsuji regarding Hittle’s new employment and immediately called his daughter.

She was struck by the circumstances, considering how well she already knew Hittle and the relative isolation of Dartmouth.

“I literally have this woman’s jersey hanging in my room,” Leonard said.

“She’s never coached college before, but I thought it was super cool because I knew she was experienced.”

The news came as a surprise to Chris Leonard as well. He noted how amazing it is that Hittle, someone that Leonard has admired since she was a little girl, decided to work at Dartmouth, out of 334 Division I women’s teams.

“What are the odds? It was this full circle moment,” he said. “To be 5,000 miles away from home in college and still find this connection to tie her back to her childhood, it’s really unique and special.”

For Hittle, it’s been a whirlwind experience.

“I’ve always wanted to be a volleyball coach, a college coach more specifically,” she said. “When I got this job I looked up the roster just to see and was like ‘Zoë, I know that kid.’”

The team is currently 6-9 overall and 0-5 in conference play. After Stacey Benton ’17 tore her ACL earlier this season, Leonard stepped in to play setter for the team. In the opening Ivy League game against Harvard University, she recorded 12 assists and five digs.

This past weekend, she made nine assists and six digs against Yale University and 12 assists against Brown University. The team will look to improve its conference record this weekend when it hosts Cornell University and

COURTESY OF ZOE LEONARD

When she was 7 years old, Zoë Leonard ’19 attended Tara Hittle’s senior night game.

Columbia University on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Although the team has only been together for two months, Hittle said she enjoys working at Dartmouth.

“We’ve been extremely busy and as a new staff,” she said. “We’ve been trying to pick up all of the loose ends, figure out each other as a coaching staff, what we need to accomplish, and how we’re going to go about it.”

With over 10 years since their first meeting, the dynamic between Leonard and Hittle seems to have shifted from child and sports idol to friends, which is a unique relationship between player and coach.

“Tara and the girls on the team

sometimes like to give me a hard time about the whole Tara-thing,” Leonard said. “One day, I saw Tara in Molly’s and she walked up and gave me her bill with her signature and said ‘Here’s an updated one.’”

The overall coaching transition, Leonard added, has been amazing because of the three new coaches’ experience as well as their ability to foster an improved team culture.

“I am excited that we have a younger female on staff. It’s a good piece to have, especially when it is someone as experienced and talented as [Hittle,] Leonard said. “Did little Zoë ever think this was going to happen? No, but I’m so excited.”

PAULA KUTSCHERA/THE DARTMOUTH

Tara Hittle and Zoë Leonard ’19 met in Hawai‘i, Leonard’s home state.

Rebecca Asoulin ’17 Editor-in-Chief

Rachel DeChiara ’17 Publisher

Annie Ma ’17 Executive Editor

10.10.16 Vol. CLXXIII No. 125

Gayne Kalustian ’17 Kourtney Kawano ’18 Sports Editors

Ashley Dupuis ’19 Evan Morgan ’19 Sam Stockton ’19 Assistant Sports Editors Annie Duncan ’17 Kate Herrington ’17 Photography Editors Jaclyn Eagle ’19 Templating Editor

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I love the San Francisco Giants.

I’ve loved them ever since Barry Bonds was still hitting home runs and we didn’t think he was a dirty cheater, since Tim Lincecum was the best pitcher in Major League Baseball for like three years, since we started winning the World Series every even year since 2010. Max, shouldn’t you be very concerned that the Giants have dropped the first two games of the National League Division Series to the Chicago Cubs? Yes, and to be completely honest, it kind of feels a lot like how I came out the gate failing my first microeconomics quiz last week: not good at all but weirdly remaining confident that the Giants will not be eliminated and that I will not have to end up dropping micro.

9 a.m. Oct. 3, Tom Brady goes back to work — Exciting news for New England Patriots fans as Brady is a man on a mission...a mission to

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become the greatest player of all time, press conference about how he was worried about his son’s well-being with ever.

12:50 p.m. Oct. 5, I fail my micro- regards to recent shootings? LeBron economics quiz in epic fashion — Play sad. Well this week LeBron was at it by play analysis: First question, I have again during Game 2 of the American no idea what’s going on. Second ques- League Division Series rallying the tion, I also have no idea what’s going crowd, “It is always us against the on. Fast forward to the end of the test, world. Cleveland against the world!

Let’s go!” LeBron mad.

I just don’t know what’s going on.

2:25 p.m. Oct. 8, Joey Julius is under 3:30 p.m. Oct. 5, Ryan Lochte is still alive — It boggles my mind too. attack — Last week, I went through Why is he doing so much “Dancing a deep analysis of how Julius was hit with the Stars” stuff? Why is he adver- and why I didn’t necessarily think tising beauty products on Instagram? it was a cheap shot. This Saturday, the University of I really don’t Maryland’s Isaiah like him, and Davis decided to I just want to “You know what they land a cheap shot stop everything say about managers on Julius thinking he does. He’s a with large cap sizes. that I would come nuisance and to his defense in not good for They’re really smart my column. AbAmerican so- guys!” solutely not, you ciety as a whole. can’t hit a guy 10:18 p.m. when the ball is out Oct. 6, Neymar takes an elbow to the face in epic of bounds even if it’s kind of funny fashion — Neymar is a lot like me: that he’s a 258-pound kicker. Leave We both fail things and take it to the Julius alone. dome. If you haven’t seen this play yet, don’t worry, there isn’t all that much Fast Facts: Does lightning strike twice? Probto see other than Neymar attempting to nutmeg a defender and falling. ably not. However, if you’re a Giants Only looking at the after picture did fan, you’ve already seen lightning I realize that there was a lot of blood strike three times in 2010, 2012 and on Neymar’s face, so much blood that 2014. The Giants were 9-0 in eliminait looks like it should be on the poster tion games from 2010 to 2014, so I of the new soccer, horror movie: “The don’t see why lightning cannot strike a fourth time.

Brazilian Chainsaw Massacre.”

Bruce Bochy, the Giants’ manager 5:25 p.m. Oct. 7, LeBron James isn’t a robot part two — Remember is a freaking genius. Did you know how last week LeBron had this whole he has one of the largest heads in

MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2016

baseball? That’s right, Bochy wears one of the largest cap sizes in MLB history, 8 ⅛. You know what they say about managers with large cap sizes.

They’re really smart guys!

Even though I’m generally garbage at school, I’m historically more of a second-half academic star like Santiago Casilla. He lead the league in blown saves and lost his closing job this past season but will remain tremendous in the playoffs with a 0.92 ERA in 25 career postseason outings.

I really wish I had a statistic that says that Conor Gillaspie is really good

at doing Conor Gillaspie things and those are what’s going to win it for the Orange and Black, but unfortunately, that is not the case. Gillaspie has already had his best moment of the entire postseason, crushing a threerun home run to eliminate the New York Mets. I’m convinced Gillaspie needs to play as little baseball as possible to give the Giants the best odds of winning.

Game 3 is in San Francisco. Madison Bumgarner is starting. There is no way, no chance that the Giants are losing.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2016

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into the sport, so while I respect his undoubtedly remarkable career, his retirement will not affect me or my love for baseball.

I didn’t grow up in Boston either, but David Ortiz was very much a part of my baseball imagination as a boy. First, it was the comeback in 2004. Those curse-busting Boston Red Sox, like the New Orleans Saints after Katrina or this year’s Chicago Cubs, were one of those teams you couldn’t help but root for. They were a bunch of scrappy underdogs with 86 years worth of monkeys on their backs taking on the big bad New York Yankees.

I get it. Vin Scully is really good Then, the Sox fell behind 0-3 in the at announcing baseball games. He American League Championship tells anecdotes that make the game Series, having been embarrassed come alive. He’s been with the Los in a Game 3 loss at Fenway. After Angeles Dodgers forever, or at least a ninth-inning comeback against the seemsince 1950 when ingly infalthe Dodgers were “Those curse-busting lible Mariano still in Brooklyn.

Rivera, OrThat’s all well Red Sox, like the New tiz launched and good, but I Orleans Saints after a walk-off didn’t grow up homer in the in Los Angeles, Katrina or this year’s bottom of the and I’ve never Chicago Cubs, were 12th, breathonce listened to one of those teams ing new life a Dodger game into the Sox. on the radio. I you couldn’t help but The very next was at the game root for.” night, he hit l a s t s u m m e r, another walkwhen Scully announced he’d be back for a 67th off in the bottom of the 14th. He and final season, but I have to say would add a homer in the Game 7 it didn’t have much of an effect on clincher to help send the Red Sox me. Scully didn’t play any role in to the World Series. A sweep of the my baseball experience as I got St. Louis Cardinals later, and the

in April of 2013. With the city Sox were World Series champs.

I distinctly remember waking up of Boston reeling on the heels of every morning and reading about the horrific act of terrorism at the Ortiz’s exploits from the night Boston Marathon, Ortiz addressed before in the paper and watching the crowd at Fenway before the the highlights on SportsCenter. Sox’s first game after the tragedy.

My mom wouldn’t let me stay Although Ortiz is a proud native up to watch the games live, so I of Santo Domingo, the capital city would hustle downstairs to beat in the Dominican Republic, he my brother to the sports section boldly declared before a packed of The Washington Post to see crowd and a field of New York’s finest that how the Sox the city fared. Each “In 2004, Ortiz brought a belongs to morning, I World Series to a city that them. He couldn’t bewas a unilieve what was starving for one... In I ’ d r e a d . 2013, Boston was recovering fying force in a city How could that had Ortiz keep from something that was been devdoing this? far deeper than a baseball astated.

People fordiamond, but again it was In O ct o get that it b e r, h i s was an Or- Ortiz who carried his team late-game tiz walk-off to a title that helped his heroics home run against the beloved adopted hometown c a r r i e d the Sox Los Ange- recover.” to a third les A ngel s World Seof Anaheim that sent the Sox to the ALCS in ries championship during the Ortiz the first place. Night after night era in Boston.

Even for someone with no in the ’04 playoffs, the man the Red Sox fans affectionately called connection to the city of Boston, Big Papi would put the Sox on his it was incredible to watch. How back. No matter how bleak things many people can you say carried got, Boston could always count on a city dealing with heartbreak on Ortiz to come up with a mammoth two separate occasions? In 2004, Ortiz brought a World Series to a hit in a big moment.

There is one other Ortiz mo- city that was starving for one, a city ment that really stands out for me that had dealt with Bucky Dent in — his pregame ceremony speech ’78, Bill Buckner in ’86 and Aaron

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Boone in ’03. In 2013, Boston was recovering from something that ran far deeper than a baseball diamond, but again, it was Ortiz who carried his team to a title that helped his beloved, adopted hometown recover.

As I write this, the Sox are in an 0-2 hole against the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS, trying to fend off elimination. If they lose one of their next three, Ortiz’s Hall-of-Fame career will be over.

I would never count out the Sox, a team led by Ortiz and bolstered by young stars like MVP-candidate Mookie Betts and phenom Andrew Benintendi.

However, no matter what the team’s ultimate fate in the 2016 playoffs, some game this October, or maybe early November, will be Ortiz’s last. I doubt there is one baseball fan, except maybe a Yankees fan, who won’t be sad to see Ortiz walk off the field for the last time.

I’d like to be clear that I mean no disrespect to Scully. There is no doubt in my mind that he had as big an impact on many people as Ortiz did for me. He will long be remembered among the greatest commentators in sports history, but he is one of two legendary figures in the game to call it quits after the 2016 season, and, for me, it will be much harder to forget Ortiz than Scully. Ortiz had an impact on the way I experience baseball growing up that Scully could never touch.

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2016

SPORTS The Beginning of a New Era It’s a cutthroat jungle out here at Dartmouth — a dog-eat-dog world where the only two things that can help you make it in life are social capital and a slick pair of Sperry’s. Although I had neither of these things when I came up to Hanover as a youngblood freshman, I was still pretty cocky. I had big hopes, ambitious aspirations and a beautiful flow of hair. But in just a mere year, I had lost it all. My dreams were shattered, my pride had been pummeled

to the ground and my hair was gone after I buzzed it off with a friend. Over my freshman year, I looked at myself through the reflection of my decrepit mirror in the even more run-down Russell Sage dorm room. Day by day, I saw a handsome man full of youth and vigor slowly transform into a jaw-sunken man with jadedness painted across his face.

At this point, you might be asking yourself, “Matt, you are a good looking man based off of your writer’s profile on The Dartmouth’s website. What could have ever happened to such a heartthrob that would render him impotent?” Well, my friends, the answer is two fold. Let me open your eyes to the wonders of Photoshop, but more importantly the harsh reality at Dartmouth.

Here in the Big Green, there exists a bipartisan divide almost as old as time itself, deeply embedded within the social fabric of the College. That is, the jarring social divide between the Non-Athletic Regular Person and the Athlete. To put it bluntly, the Athlete has it all. These bronze-skinned Adonises with beautiful locks of curly brown

hair and massive lacrosse sticks simply flourish in the social scene. They quickly consume almost all this college has to offer, leaving none but a few drips of social capital for the average NARP to sip through the means of a degree in economics and three Greek letters on a chest. As you can already tell from the demoralized tone of this insider article, I myself fall within the category of the NARP, a reality almost as sad as the fact that I am writing a column about being a NARP. But it wasn’t always like this. There was once a time when I myself was a titan.

Back in the Gilded Age of high school, I had effortlessly climbed to the top of the social ladder through unparalleled charm, intelligence and wit. In just a few years, I had established myself as the pharaoh sitting on the top of my high school’s social pyramid. I was the head honcho, the big enchilada, the Alpha Male. Yet I was playing a dangerous game. In just a few terms at Dartmouth, my Tower of Babel had been taken away right under my feet, leaving me with my wings broken and

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my ego destroyed. Like Icarus, I was flying too close to the sun — I had been put in my place as a NARP. You see, there are a few harsh realities of being a NARP that are just outright demoralizing. In my experience, the worst part about being a NARP is that athletes around me constantly overshadow me — both metaphorically and literally. By that, I mean that I am tiny. Back in my heyday, I was pretty confident with my height. Standing a whopping total of 5 feet and 8 inches, I of course wasn’t the tallest kid in my school by any means. However, what I lacked in height I could make up for with intelligence and great hair.

Unfortunately, these two things become moot when every single athlete on this campus not only has intelligence and great hair but also has a perfectly chiseled 6-feet-plus body. Here we see a classic example of David versus Goliath, except David doesn’t win in this matchup. More on the topic of size, I distinctly remember being really confused my first few days on campus as a freshman.

Walking around my dorm, I remember asking myself why there were so many

No athletic events scheduled

upperclassmen living in my freshman dorm. Turns out they were just really tall freshmen. Whoops. But one year later, as a forgotten sophomore, I am even more surprised by how some of the ’20s are even taller than my fellow ’19 athletes. At this rate, I am going to be a small speck by the time I am a washed-up senior. In addition, I am also going to be single forever because even Prince Charming stands no chance when he’s competing against a legion of athletic gods.

But there is a ray of sunshine shining through this darkness. If you’ve stayed with me up until this point, I might as well drop some pearls of wisdom while I still have your attention. My momma always told me that it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down, but rather how many times you get back up.

Okay, I lied. I got that off the Internet.

The point is, I’ve patted the dust off my butt and your boy Matt Yuen has the secrets to overcoming the nefarious NARP ceiling. Stay tuned for next week’s column, as I share how I rose to become the king of this middle-ofnowhere campus we call home.

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