The Dartmouth Sports Weekly 03/02/15

3.2. 15

HOCKEY WINS TWO, SECURES 5TH SEED IN ECAC PLAYOFFS

BASKETBALL SWEEPS FINAL HOME GAMES

JACQUELINE CRAWFORD GOES 1-ON-1 TIFFANY ZHANG, WEIJA TANG, KATE HARRINGTON, ALISON GUH/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SW 2

BY THE NUMBERS

0 Losses for Dartmouth basketball this weekend

5

Scoreless innings for Duncan Robinson ’16 in loss to Texas A&M

4

RBIs for Katie McEachern ’16 in softball’s win over Lamar University

3

Goals for Brandon McNally ’15 in final regular season weekend

Women’s basketball picks up pair of Ivy League wins B y alexander agadjanian The Dartmouth Staff

For all of the peaks and valleys the women’s basketball team has endured this season, this past weekend’s games carried extra meaning. Not only was it a chance to properly send off the senior class in its final two home games and get back to the .500 win percentage mark for the year, but it also provided an opportunity for a step in a positive direction in the program’s second year under head coach Belle Koclanes. In unequivocally dominant fashion, the Big Green did just that, trouncing Columbia University 60-50 on Friday night and Cornell University 54-35 less than 24 hours later.

“I’m so proud of the team’s effort this weekend,” Koclanes said. “I’m so proud of our seniors [for] really leading and building pride, building legacy, protecting our home court. [That is] something that we talk about all the time and it’s really important to us, and they led the way.”

On Friday against Columbia, the visitors grabbed control early on.

Capitalizing on the Big Green’s shaky inside defense, the Lions pounded the restricted area to score four points in the paint and notched a 4-3 lead.

Yet, Dartmouth responded accordingly with early adjustments. The Big Green closed off lanes to the hoop and forced its opponent out to the perimeter, heavily disrupting the Lion’s offense. As a result, Columbia went scoreless for nearly five minutes after its strong start, missing four field goals and committing two turnovers in that span.

“We locked up on defending penetration [into the paint] better,” Koclanes noted. “We made adjustments on some of their simple ball screens, [and] they didn’t [succeed on] them again.

We make adjustments throughout the game, but protecting our paint is really important on the defensive end.”

On the other end of the floor, greater ball movement and incisive passing fostered a 7-0 run in less than three minutes for the Big Green. By the midway point in the first half, the Big Green had accumulated a 17-9 lead. Fanni Szabo ’17, the team’s leading scorer, developed a nice shooting touch to help build her team’s early dominance, netting eight

Katie McKay ’16 Editor-in-Chief

03. 02. 15

MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2015

Luke McCann ’16 Executive Editor

Henry Arndt ’16 Katie Jarrett ’16 Sports Editors

Natalie Cantave ’16 Photography Editor

Justin Levine ’16 Publisher

Jessica Avitable ’16 Executive Editor

points within the first nine minutes of play.

“I had some open shots, and luckily I made them,” Szabo remarked. “My team was great at giving me the ball at the right time, so that helped me score those points [early on].”

The Big Green maintained a lead of at least six points for the rest of the half, as Dartmouth stifled Columbia to 25 percent shooting in the first period and maintained a 28-18 edge at halftime. While Szabo led all scorers on the court going into the locker room, the emergence of Kate Letkewicz ’18 provided a nice boost as well.

A relatively quiet offensive player before the match — averaging 2.5 points per game this season — Letkewicz displayed more assertiveness in attacking the basket than in the past, notching six points in the first half and finishing with nine for the evening.

The guard has seen a 6.8 minute per game increase in Ivy League contests over non-conference games, and her recent play has heralded yet another promising development among the team’s freshmen contingent.

Over the course of the second half, the game followed a similar pattern.

The Lions made several pushes to reduce their deficit, only to be met each time by the Big Green with its own offensive spurts.

Columbia freshman Camille Zimmerman was at the forefront of her team’s comeback attempts in the second half, scoring seven points in just over four minutes. Dartmouth responded swiftly, led by six points from Tia Dawson ’15 in the first nine minutes of the second period.

The senior center, playing in the last homestand of her Dartmouth career, proved once again how vital she is to the team’s success on both ends of the floor. Dawson eventually completed her second consecutive double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and — along with her two recorded blocks — represented her overpowering presence in the paint both on offense and defense.

For much of the second half, the Big Green preserved a comfortable lead that hovered around 10 points, but the team began to suffer from a jump in turnovers and an offensive lull down the stretch. At 9:46, Dartmouth was up 43-31 over Columbia, but failed to score another point for almost five minutes.

In this time, Columbia slowly cut into Dartmouth’s lead, bringing the score to 43-37 at 6:45.

Yet Dartmouth replied as forcefully as ever, generating five points — two buckets in the paint and a trip to the free throw line — in a 40-second span to bring its lead back to 11 points.

The rest of the contest remained a back-and-forth affair. Though the Lions again trimmed their deficit to as close as six points, the Big Green closed out the game with authority, sharpening its field goal and free throw shooting in the game’s waning moments to prevail 60-50.

WEIJIA TANG/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Women’s basketball broke its five-game losing streak at home with two wins.

The victory snapped a five-game home losing streak for the Big Green and marked its first Ivy League win of the season in Leede Arena. With the win over Columbia, Dartmouth attained its first season series sweep of an Ivy League competitor since it swept Columbia three years ago.

Szabo played an integral role in her team’s win, spearheading Dartmouth’s offensive effort with a 19-point performance. The guard also posted a significantly more efficient shooting night, rising from an average .340 field goal percentage in conference games to a .444 shooting percentage on the night.

“You got to give [Szabo] credit,” Koclanes said. “She works so hard, and she sees all different types of physicality, face-guarding, defense — people try to keep the ball out of her hands. And she’s getting so much better at changing her speeds, being stronger on her catches and not getting disrupted and frustrated by the physicality, but being more composed.”

Containing Columbia’s top scorer, sophomore Tori Oliver who averages 16.8 points per game this season, was of utmost importance for the Big Green heading into Friday’s game. Milica Toskovic ’15 suppressed Oliver as well as any defender this season, limiting the opposing forward to 2-13 shooting for only nine points.

The following day brought the celebration of senior night, as the Big Green’s three senior players — Dawson, Toskovic and Nicole Beresford ’15 — played the last game of their careers in Leede Arena. The task at hand loomed before the team — Dartmouth, who entered the weekend tied for last in the Ivy League, was preparing to face off against the third-best Ivy League squad in Cornell, who handed Dartmouth a 66-46 defeat earlier this season.

In a complete effort across the board, the Big Green ensured the visitors would not spoil the seniors’ special night, notching an upset victory along the way.

“It was just a total team effort tonight,” Koclanes said. “And they were playing for their seniors. That’s what we talked about, that’s what we want in our program. You earn that for four years...

[The seniors] worked so hard, and they deserved that type of a victory.”

After conceding the first basket of the game on an easy layup in the paint, Dartmouth rode a string of jumpers to an early three-point lead at 16:09. Once again, Szabo played a prominent role in her team’s early offense, scoring five of the first seven points. While the final result was still far out of view, the Big Green would ultimately maintain a lead over Cornell for the rest of the game.

It’s one thing to jump out to an early edge over a formidable opponent, but a completely different thing to preserve and possibly extend such an advantage.

Fortunately for the Big Green, its sharpshooters caught fire from deep.

Six minutes into the first, Lakin Roland ’16 drained two three-pointers in a span of less than 40 seconds, and found herself wide open for another two minutes later, extending the Big Green’s lead to 18-8.

In the last five minutes of the first half, unheralded sophomore Katie Vareika ’17 — who finished the game with nine points — poured in two more three-balls. Dartmouth converted six three pointers on 10 attempts in the first half, which proved critical in maintaining its lead.

As flashy and crowd-rousing as the team’s three-point barrage was, Dartmouth’s defensive display was equally exceptional. After allowing an early bucket in the paint, the Big Green entered a defensive lockdown that suffocated Cornell’s offense.

Content with letting Big Red players pass among themselves out on the perimeter, the Big Green defense clogged lanes into the paint and forced Cornell to settle for jump shots. Most remarkably, the women held Cornell scoreless for more than eight minutes SEE BASKETBALL PAGE SW4

MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2015

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

Men’s hockey sweeps end of regular season B y gayne kalustian The Dartmouth Staff

The goal, Carl Hesler ’18 joked before the game, would be his. A long pass to Jack Barre ’16 in the neutral zone from Andy Simpson ’15 gave Barre the opportunity to carry the puck in and find Corey Kalk ’18 in the center. Kalk slipped it under a sliding defenseman to Hesler on the far post, who nicked it across the crease. In his first home showing against Princeton University, the freshman centerman netted his third goal of the season, beckoning the single loudest, most cacophonous sound to be heard in Thompson Arena all year, accompanied by the tennis balls that came down like acid rain on the visiting Tigers.

The game is steeped in tradition. It is loaded with pride. It ended in a 3-1 victory for Dartmouth, and its all-too enticing teaser of a freshman scoring a goal he predicted in jest beforehand is an appealing story — but the weekend would bring even more highlights.

On Saturday night, Dartmouth eclipsed its own victory against Princeton when it hosted first-ranked in the ECAC and No. 10 in the nation Quinnipiac University for the Big Green’s senior night. Quinnipiac was fresh off a 5-2 victory over No. 16 Harvard University and what would become the tail end of a 13-game undefeated streak in the conference. The puck dropped, Quinnipiac came out strong for the first minute and in came Brandon McNally ’15.

“It was one of the top teams in the country and the top team in our conference, and I thought we just had a great effort all night long,” head coach Bob Gaudet said. “Obviously Brandon McNally had a big night as a senior, scoring two goals.”

The McNally, Grant Opperman ’17 and alternate captain Eric Neiley ’15 line has been receiving a lot of attention lately. While Opperman and Neiley collect most of the points, the quiet McNally has stayed somewhat out of the limelight. He’s the type of player who draws out long showers to avoid post-game interviews, if possible. You can say to him, “Hey, great weekend!” when he scores three goals and picks up an assist, and he’ll pause for a few seconds while staring at you before simply responding, “I guess.”

McNally himself is somewhat of a con-

tentious player, drawing attention for his particular brand of physical play. There is no doubt that he checks — hard. He has just one fewer penalty minute than Neiley, but with six fewer penalties and eight fewer games played. Critics of McNally question his ability to keep his temper under control.

It is true that Brandon McNally is a physical player. As a wing, he recognizes that part of his job is to “do the dirty work in the corners,” and he certainly does just that — and then some. For some people, it’s a problem when he throws hard checks that might have little effect on the game, and that may have contributed to the series of scratches he went through in the early season. In a sport where contact is not an assumption but a guarantee, though, having players who can be a threat on the ice can be indispensable — but it can be difficult to quantify that in any sort of statistic.

Physically, he’s a very strong player who is determined to win, which when properly channeled comes into play in more than just the check, Gaudet said.

“He’s tough to take the puck off. I think when people look at Brandon they think about his physical play in terms of checking, but he’s really strong with the puck,” Gaudet said. “He played with a lot of discipline in terms of the physical play — keeping his hands down, his stick down.”

Listed at 6’2” on the team’s roster, McNally has a “don’t take anything from anyone” attitude. Besides his size, McNally also brings with him hockey sense, puck handling and “great vision” — not something often seen among the hard-hitters of hockey. His goal against Yale University on Feb. 7, wherein he split two defenders before backhanding the puck in the net, was listed as the NCAA No. 5 play of the week the week.

Against Princeton on Friday, McNally both set up and finished Dartmouth’s second goal of the game, first attempting to feed Opperman who failed to gain control but kept the play alive by keeping the puck off a Princeton stick. McNally carried it over and hit Opperman in the middle. Opperman found Neiley on the right, drawing out the goalie. Neiley hit McNally, who had set up on the left and buried the puck in the exposed net. McNally, a very vocal player, has a good

sense of when and where he’s supposed to be and can open up the ice for his teammates.

When he’s on his game, McNally elevates his line by finding them when he needs to.

It is, he said, what he perceives his job to be.

“I kind of just get the puck and get it to them,” McNally said. “I try to make plays for them because they’re both pretty good goal scorers. If I can get the puck to them, I know they can get off a good shot.”

McNally, identified as a hard worker by others and who said he’s been working on stick handling and shooting since the summer, bookended the Quinnipiac game, scoring the first and last goals of the contest.

While assisted by Neiley, the first goal came somewhat individually as McNally received the puck at center ice and skated through a defender then skipping through the final defenseman with a backhanded jump before burying the puck in the net. The second goal was again solicited from line mate Neiley, who scooped the puck from Quinnipiac’s Alex Barron with his skate before getting it to McNally in the slot.

Of course, he game wasn’t won and lost by McNally. Two-time captain Tyler Sikura’s ’15 spinning, backhanded goal off a rebounded shot by Brad Schierhorn ’16 and aggressive forecheck by alternate captain Eric Robinson ’14 helped to give a cushion of comfort to the Big Green. In beating Quinnipiac, the team secured their first victory over the Bobcats in their last seven matchups and the first victory over the team since the seniors were freshmen.

Beyond what the Big Green managed to pull off near their opponents’ nets, the plays in Dartmouth’s own zone deserve attention.

The men killed all the penalties it faced this weekend, though Tim Shoup ’18, a fixture in Dartmouth’s defense, went down with an injury on Saturday and did not return to the ice.

“It’s always a bad thing when a teammate gets hurt,” Simpson said. “Shoup is a big part of our team, so playing with five [defensemen], we just had to keep rolling.

I think each of us has a good quality that allows us to pair up with anyone.”

Simpson himself, who goes quietly on and off the ice, has recently emerged as SEE HOCKEY PAGE SW4

TIFFANY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

The Big Green took down Princeton University in the annual rivalry game before ousting No. 10 Quinnapiac University on senior night.

SW 3

THE

RUNDOWN Men’s Basketball SCHOOL

IVY

OVERALL

HARVARD YALE PRINCETON COLUMBIA CORNELL DARTMOUTH BROWN PENN

10-2 10-2 6-5 5-7 5-7 5-7 4-8 2-9

20-6 21-8 13-14 13-13 13-15 12-14 12-14 7-18

Women’s Basketball SCHOOL

IVY

OVERALL

PRINCETON PENN CORNELL YALE HARVARD DARTMOUTH BROWN COLUMBIA

11-0 9-2 6-6 6-6 5-7 4-8 4-8 2-10

26-0 18-7 15-11 12-14 12-14 13-13 10-16 8-18

Men’s Hockey SCHOOL

ECAC

OVERALL

QUINNIPIAC ST. LAWRENCE YALE COLGATE DARTMOUTH HARVARD CORNELL CLARKSON RPI UNION BROWN PRINCETON

16-3-3 14-7-1 12-6-4 11-7-4 12-8-2 11-8-3 9-9-4 8-11-3 8-12-2 8-13-1 5-14-3 2-18-2

21-9-4 18-13-3 17-7-5 19-11-4 15-10-4 15-11-3 11-12-6 11-18-5 10-23-3 16-16-2 8-18-3 4-21-3

Women’s Hockey SCHOOL

ECAC

OVERALL

CLARKSON HARVARD QUINNIPIAC CORNELL ST. LAWRENCE PRINCETON YALE DARTMOUTH RPI COLGATE UNION BROWN

16-4-2 16-4-2 15-5-2 14-6-2 13-5-4 13-8-1 12-10-0 9-11-2 5-16-1 4-16-2 1-16-5 2-19-1

24-9-3 23-5-3 26-7-3 18-10-3 19-12-5 15-14-2 15-15-1 13-15-2 7-23-4 7-25-2 4-22-8 5-23-1

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SW 4

ONE

ON

ONE

WITH JACQUELINE CRAWFORD ’17

B y LILY GORDON The Dartmouth Staff

This week, I sat down with Jacqueline Crawford ’17 of the women’s tennis team. The team recently jumped to No. 22 in the national rankings after winning the ECAC Championship for the first time in program history.

This past weekend, the Big Green women defeated the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 4-3.

When did you first start playing tennis?

JC: I first started playing tennis when I was around nine years old.

Did you play any other sports growing up?

JC: Not really. I started playing tennis competitively almost immediately, and went to a tennis academy when I was 10.

What is your favorite part about the game?

JC: I love the individuality of it.

You have your coach who can give a little help, but mainly it’s just you against your opponent.

How has your winter season been so far?

JC: Winter season has been incredible. Our team has been working really hard and had great chemistry. I think it’s really been showing in our matches.

What has been your favorite part about playing for Dartmouth?

JC: The team — having them there to support you and fight for you — is a really special part of college tennis.

How does this vary from fall and spring tennis?

JC: Winter season is the start of dual matches. It’s really cool to start playing team against team, as opposed to the individual fall season.

How did you as a team and as an individual prepare for the match against UMass?

JC: Personally, I’ve been working on moving up in the court to impose my game more, as well as hitting balls more forcefully while on the run.

What did your coach have to say after the match?

JC: After my last match, my coach assured me that I was on the right track to continue improving and

MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2015

Women’s basketball wins two at home

contributing to the team moving forward.

What, specifically, are you working on in the coming weeks?

JC: I will be continuing to work on my serve placement, movement and offensive transitions moving forward. Since coming back, we’ve been working a lot on getting more comfortable moving, so that I can be in position to play a more offensive game.

Who do you think your stiffest competition will be?

J C: Co lu m b i a an d H ar vard [Universities] are always tough matches. However, we recently beat Columbia to win the ECAC Championship. Princeton [University], the defending Ivy League Champions, should also be good competition.

How did it feel to win the program’s first ever ECAC Championship?

JC: It was a great moment for our team and the program. We’ve been improving as a team, but to prove it and win the ECAC’s was really special for everyone on the team.

What has it been like to transition into more of a leadership role on the team now as a sophomore as opposed to a freshman?

JC: The freshman on our team are fantastic, which has made the transition to sophomore year really easy.

Is there any advice you would give the freshmen on your team that you wish you had known in hindsight last year?

JC: Appreciate your teammates, but also don’t be afraid to ask them for help. They’ll always be there to help and support you with anything you do.

Do you or your teammates have any superstitions or pre-match rituals?

JC: We have pre-match “psyche ups” to help us loosen up before matches.

Off the court, how do you like to spend your time at Dartmouth?

JC: Tennis is a year -ound sport, so any extra time is usually spent catching up with work and friends.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

WEIJIA TANG/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Fanni Szabo ’17 posted 19 and 16 points in wins over Columbia University and Cornell University, respectively.

FROM BASKETBALL PAGE SW2

in the first period.

While the Big Red managed to cut the halftime score to 28-19, the effect of Dartmouth’s defense was palpable.

The Big Green restricted an offense, which previously averaged 29.54 points in the first half this season, to only 19 on Saturday.

The visitors began the next period of play much more strongly. Six points by Cornell’s leading scorer Nia Marshall keyed a 12-5 start for Cornell, trimming the lead to 35-31 at 14:34.

The Big Green responded emphatically, inflicting yet another gamealtering drought upon Cornell, this one even longer than the first. Seeing its once comfortable lead drop to four, Dartmouth reclaimed its impenetrable defensive character and sent the Big Red offense into disarray.

Failing to find any space near the hoop and instead resorting to several long, mid-range jumpers — the most difficult type of shot in the sport — Cornell did not score for 11 minutes after its three pointer at 14:34.

“We played zone defense, so that was a game adjustment the second time around [against Cornell,]” Koclanes said. “We [also] focused on protecting our paint, so that was a major emphasis the second time, and we did a nice job of that.”

The defensive stranglehold in turn spawned a lengthy scoring run, as Dartmouth managed a 15-0 during this time frame to effectively seal the 54-35 victory. The Big Green finished the game on a 19-4 run, and its two top scorers — Szabo and Roland — fulfilled closeout duties admirably, combining for 13 points in the last 10 minutes of the game. The two were also the top

scorers on the floor for the entire contest, as Roland reached 17 points and Szabo added 16.

The Big Green limited Cornell to .269 shooting from the field on the night, a huge plunge from the Big Red’s .40 field goal percentage average on the season.

The win shines even brighter when considering the Big Green’s last game against the same opponent earlier in the month. While the Big Red gained 30 points in the paint playing in Ithaca on Feb. 13, Dartmouth held Cornell’s post-scoring to just 12 in Hanover on Feb. 28.

“I’m really excited we got the [weekend] sweep, but I just started tearing up at the end,” Dawson said after her final home game. “It was happy tears, but it’s also just knowing that I’m not going to play on this floor again. It’s hard but amazing at the same time.”

Men’s hockey tames Tigers and Bobcats FROM HOCKEY PAGE SW3

the “defenseman of the defensemen.”

Pat Salvas, assistant director of varsity athletics communications, wrote in an email that Simpson leads the ECAC in total shots blocked with 76 and shots blocked per game, averaging 2.62.The numbers place him at fourth and second in the nationally, respectively. In order to create some special teams momentum and chemistry, Simpson was moved from the second to the first power play unit. He is the type of player who can “do it all,” Gaudet said.

“He is quiet — not under our radar but under people’s radar,” Gaudet said.

“He’s one of the most consistent players I think I’ve ever had.”

A defense-first, offense second back end player, Simpson identified blocking pucks as a point of pride.

“As a player, I take pride in blocking shots, especially on the penalty kill,” he said. “You’re sacrificing your body for your team... I think as a whole our

team does a good job of blocking shots.

Everybody buys in.”

Against Quinnipiac, certainly everyone on the defense was buying in to the win. Situations where Quinnipiac might have made a run for the net did arise in the game, but for the most part, those opportunities were snuffed out through team effort.

There was a puck that, had Brett Patterson ’16 not plucked it from the air, would’ve sailed over the last line of defense and lead to a one-on-one.

Ryan Bullock ’16 pulled the puck from between players’ skates to snuff out the odd man rush. It was Geoff Ferguson ’16 sucking a puck into his stomach to stop it from getting to Kruger. It was Rick Pinkston ’15 throwing his entire body over a player to push the puck down ice to preserve the penalty kill.

Quinnipiac, who averages 2.73 goals per conference game, never took the lead on Saturday night.

Against Princeton, the Big Green maintained the lead throughout, though

they played a somewhat lethargic second period and allowed a goal. James Kruger ’16 made 45 saves on the weekend and took both starts.

Though Dartmouth swept its senior weekend, it finished tied for fourth in the ECAC with Colgate University.

The Big Green takes the fifth seed in the ECAC tournament and will play in the first round next weekend on their home ice. Its vie for a shared Ivy League title within the ECAC with Yale University never came to fruition, as the Bulldogs dismantled Cornell University on Saturday, 4-0, and finished third in the ECAC. If the Big Green wins the first round, it will travel to Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, for the ECAC’s quarterfinals.

The team will face Princeton again next weekend in a best-of-three series. The team, Sikura said, is taking nothing for granted.

“They’re going to be physical, and they’re going to play hard,” he said. “It’s not an easy two wins.”