The Dartmouth Sports Weekly 01/12/15

1. 12. 15

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL BEATS HARVARD

MEN’S BASKETBALL DROPS IVY OPENER

MEN’S HOCKEY SUFFERS WEEKEND WITHOUT WINS ALLISON CHOU, KELSEY KITTELSEN, ALISON GUH/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SW 2

BY THE NUMBERS

MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2015

Men’s hockey falters against regional rivals

16 Double-digit game streak broken for Alex Mitola ’16

25 Points for Lakin Roland ’16 in win over Harvard JEFFREY LEE/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

3

The men’s hockey team tied the University of New Hampshire after a scoreless overtime period Friday before falling 4-1 to the University of Vermont on Sunday.

B y ray lu The Dartmouth Staff

Goals for women’s hockey in win over Union

46 The 46th annual Dartmouth Relays took place this weekend.

The Dartmouth men’s ice hockey team took on two local rivals this weekend, the University of New Hampshire Wildcats and the no. 12 University of Vermont Catamounts.

The Big Green would ultimately tie the Wildcats (6-11-2) 2-2 after an overtime period on Friday before dropping its last non-conference match on Sunday afternoon 4-1 to the Catamounts (15-5-1).

The Big Green’s first line was the only line that didn’t fall victim to the shuffle this weekend due to sudden and ongoing illnesses and injuries, head coach Bob Gaudet said.

Back on the ice this Friday was left wing Brandon McNally ’15, his first appearance in the rink since the team took on American

Katie McKay ’16 Editor-in-Chief

01.12.15

Jessica Avitabile ’16 Executive Editor

Henry Arndt ’16 Katie Jarrett ’16 Sports Editors

Natalie Cantave ’16 Jin Lee ’16 Photography Editors

Justin Levine ’16 Publisher

Luke McCann ’16 Executive Editor

International College on Nov. 29.

River Rymsha ’18 came in on Sunday to fill a void for ailing defenseman Rick Pinkston ’15, while Brandon Kirk ’17 remains scratched due to an ongoing back issue.

Kirk’s spot has been worked in part by Josh Hartley ’17. Jesse Beamish ’15 came back on Sunday after being scratched for McNally on Friday when Jack Barre ’16 felt sick before playing UVM. A five-forward power play unit has emerged in Dartmouth’s game plan in order to generate some more offense and pick up the team’s 13 percent power play conversion.

Having Brett Patterson ’16, who can double as a forward or defenseman, in the back of the unit gives the team more latitude to play up top, Gaudet said, because Patterson can survive a one-on-one or oddman rush.

Dartmouth opened play this weekend against its intrastate rival, UNH, resulting in the overtime tie.

The excitement was broadcasted on NBC Sports Network, which worked out in Dartmouth’s favor when a reviewed offside call was grounds for recalling the Wildcats’ first goal of the game.

Dartmouth’s first goal was scored by left wing Brad Schierhorn ’16, who was hanging around the net during a power play to tap in a shot made by Patterson.

After the UNH goal was called back, the next puck to find a net was on a picturesque diving shot

by Barre, assisted by Ryan Bullock ’16 and Carl Hesler ’18, the second point of Hesler’s Dartmouth career.

But, as has been the case for the Big Green several times this season, the third period brought trouble for the leading team, who allowed a goal with less than seven minutes left of play. Dartmouth’s defenseman Hartley was sent to the penalty box for interference, leading to the Wildcats’ only power play goal in Dartmouth’s six penalties.

With two minutes left in the game, the Wildcats called out their goaltender — a risk which paid off for UNH who scored with 40 seconds left in the game.

The Big Green’s viability in the third period will be critical to the team’s success down the stretch, wing Grant Opperman ’17 said.

“I thought we played well,” he said. “They capitalized on their chances and kicked in a backdoor goal with 30 seconds left. We’ve just got to stop that somehow. It’s not a matter of x’s and o’s. We just need to find a way there. We’ve got to be better in the third.”

Able to put the would-havebeen win to rest before taking to the ice on Sunday, the Big Green came out hard against the Catamounts, remaining scoreless with UVM through the first period.

Dartmouth’s only goal came in the second period at the hands of Tim O’Brien ’16, who knotted the score 1-1.

Scoring against strong defenses is critical to competing against teams

like UVM, O’Brien said.

“We just need to get to the dirty areas more,” he said. “It’s really hard ­— easier said than done. They have a really good goalie, and we gotta get in front of him. If he can’t see them, he’s going to have a tough time stopping them. We had a tough time doing that tonight.

Their defense played well.”

Vermont dictated the game by controlling the swing of the momentum ­— capitalizing on their first power play, scoring a bounce back goal, following with a goal 13 seconds into the third period and driving in their fourth and final goal in just seconds after a successful penalty kill.

By not allowing Dartmouth to swing the momentum in its favor at any of the critical junctures in the game, the Big Green fell flat through the third.

Maintaining puck possession by controlling the flow on the ice at all times will be a worthy challenge for Dartmouth as the team heads into conference play, Opperman said.

“I think I was out there for a shift when we scored and then they scored however many seconds after,” he said. “I was out there for both events. Not too high, not too low. That’s the motto we’ve got out there. You gotta stay level headed the best you can. It’s not easy, but you’ve gotta try.”

Next up for the Big Green will be St. Lawrence University on Friday, Jan. 16 in Thompson Arena at 7 p.m.

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2015

Men’s basketball falls in Ivy opener

B y ray lu

The Dartmouth Staff

With 1,867 people in the stands, the Dartmouth men’s basketball team (6-7, 0-1 Ivy) fell 57-46 to Harvard University (10-3, 1-0 Ivy) on Saturday in its Ivy League opener.

The Crimson defense proved the difference, holding the Big Green to just 33.3 percent from the field and busting Alex Mitola’s ’16 16-game streak of double-digit points.

Dartmouth forced 17 turnovers and were within five points of Harvard with just over 12 minutes to go, but fell behind after a timely 9-0 run by the Crimson.

“When you’re playing a team as good as Harvard, you don’t have a large margin of error,” Coach Paul Cormier said. “I don’t think we played poorly, but I don’t think we played well enough.”

Connor Boehm ’16, who ranks second in the Ivy League with a 53.8 field goal percentage, led the team with 16 points on 6-13 shooting. Gabas Maldunas ’15 put up 10 points and 7 boards, followed by Malik Gill ’16 and Mitola with six points each.

Harvard jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, but Dartmouth cut the deficit to three with 8:32 to go in the first by limiting the Crimson on defense and generating turnovers. “[Harvard’s] one of the more athletic teams we are going to play, especially down low,” Boehm said. “It’s hard to get shots off inside.”

Harvard had 26 points in the paint

compared to Dartmouth’s 14.

Harvard’s Corbin Miller managed a trio of threes in the first half, helping to extend the Crimson lead to as much as 10 early in the match, but Dartmouth had a couple big plays of its own to keep things close. An artful assist by Maldunas to John Golden ’15 for two and Boehm’s three-pointer with five seconds left in the half saw the Big Green head to the locker room down 27-20.

“We have a pretty balanced scoring attack. We have a lot of good players on our team.” Boehm said. “Whether Alex is on or Gabas is on or Kevin [Crescenzi ‘16] is on or whatever, we are going to find the open man. We’re going to find the hot hand, whoever that may be.”

Harvard enjoyed a strong start to the second half, stretching the lead to as much as 11 points. Dartmouth responded with jumpers by Boehm and Mitola and a layup by Gill that brought the score to 38-33, the closest margin since the opening minutes.

Tommy Carpenter ’16, who averages about 13 minutes a game, hustled for three steals in a span of just over a minute, but the team could not take advantage. Both teams then went scoreless for nearly four minutes, stalling Dartmouth’s comeback momentum.

“We had some missed opportunities that we just can’t afford to have against a team playing this well,” said Cormier.

Harvard rattled off seven unanswered points to end the scoring drought, a change in the game that

Dartmouth would never recover from.

“We weren’t really on the same page in the second half of the second half,” Maldunas said. “They made a couple of tough shots. We couldn’t come back after that.”

The Crimson’s Miller hit four three-pointers to finish the game with 16 points, while Wesley Saunders, the third-leading scorer in the Ivy League, finished with 10.

“The story of the game was how athletic Harvard is and how well, with that athleticism, they play team defense, and that team defense really suffocated us from being able to get anything going,” Cormier said.

In a low-scoring affair, the game featured two of the best three defenses in the Ivy Leagues, with Harvard at the top allowing just 55.7 points per game.

Dartmouth’s defense ranks third in the League, with Columbia University in second behind Harvard.

“I thought the difference was the rebounding down low and our defense down there, which should have been better,” Boehm said.

Dartmouth will travel to the University of Vermont on Wednesday before taking on the New Jersey Institute of Technology at home the following Saturday. Afterward, Harvard and Dartmouth will meet again on Jan. 24 in Cambridge, Mass.

“These conference games mean a little more to us, especially [against] a team like Harvard, who has been on the top of the Ivy Leagues these past years,” Boehm said. “So we’re going to take this one game at a time.”

SW 3

THE

RUNDOWN Men’s Basketball SCHOOL

IVY

OVERALL

HARVARD PRINCETON YALE COLUMBIA CORNELL BROWN DARTMOUTH PENN

1-0 1-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-1

10-3 7-9 11-6 8-6 8-8 8-8 6-7 3-8

Women’s Basketball SCHOOL

IVY

OVERALL

PRINCETON DARTMOUTH CORNELL BROWN COLUMBIA YALE PENN HARVARD

1-0 1-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-1

17-0 10-5 9-5 5-8 5-8 5-8 7-5 6-8

Men’s Hockey SCHOOL

ECAC

OVERALL

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

10-2-0 6-1-2 5-2-1 5-4-0 4-3-2 5-6-0 4-3-1 4-5-1 4-4-0 3-4-1 3-9-0 1-11-0

15-6-1 10-2-2 13-6-1 13-6-1 7-10-4 7-16-1 9-4-2 11-8-2 6-7-2 6-5-3 4-15-0 2-14-1

Women’s Hockey

ALLISON CHOU/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Malik Gill ’16 had six points off the bench during Saturday’s loss to Harvard.

SCHOOL

ECAC

OVERALL

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

11-1-2 9-1-1 7-2-2 8-6-0 6-3-2 5-2-2 5-5-1 4-6-0 2-8-0 1-8-0 1-9-0 1-9-0

18-1-3 11-2-2 13-6-2 10-9-1 10-8-3 6-6-3 9-7-1 7-9-1 4-15-13 4-17-0 4-15-3 4-13-0

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SW 4

ONE

ON

ONE

WITH KENNEDY OTTENBREIT ’17

B y Lily gordon The Dartmouth Staff

This week I sat down with women’s hockey’s Kennedy Ottenbreit ’17. Ottenbriet scored the game-winning goal for the Big Green in the 3-1 victory over Union College on Saturday, Jan. 10.

Can you tell me a little bit about your season so far?

KO: We started the season off with a 5-0 record and then started playing teams that were really high up in the standings, and forced us to really focus more on our systems. We lost some tough games, but in the past five or six games we’ve come back and started winning some more. We’ve really just been focusing a lot on our game plan and trying to execute.

Who has been your stiffest competition this season?

KO: Boston College was very tough.

Quinnipiac [University], who we ended up tying, was another really good team.

We have Harvard [University] at home this weekend, which is really exciting because they beat us at their arena earlier. We’re really excited to face some of these teams later this season and get back at them.

Did you play any junior hockey before coming to Dartmouth?

KO: No. Unlike the guys, most girls don’t do that. I went to a prep school in Minnesota — [Shattuck-St. Mary’s School] —so it’s funny now to play against some of the girls from that team. There’s one at Northeastern and another at Quinnipiac right now, so it’s fun when our schedules do meet up eventually.

Can you tell me a little about your game on Friday against [Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute]?

KO: Our team ended up having two power play goals, which happened to be two of the three goals. But the girls on my team just gave me the puck to shoot it and they happened to go in, so they did a lot of the work really. Then the third was just an empty net goal, so there wasn’t a lot there.

How do you prepare differently for each team you face?

KO: We watch a lot of film about three or four times a week. We watch film on every different team the day before we play them. We also watch a lot of film of ourselves to see where we can improve and what things we can try to change about our systems. So for instance, this week we are going in and looking at the videos from RPI and [University of New Hampshire] to see ourselves and see what we need to do differently moving forward. So it’s not that our systems necessarily change, but more

MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2015

Women’s basketball tops Harvard

that we focus on what we did wrong and what we did right so that each time we play a team we’ll be ready for them.

What has been the biggest difference you have seen from last season to now?

KO: Maturity and experience. We’re older now so we’ve been practicing our systems and we’ve all just been playing together for longer now so we know how each other plays. We’re used to what we’re doing a lot more. I also think we’re just a lot more confident now that we’re older, and I think it definitely shows out there on the ice.

Having previous experiences to build from is really helpful.

What does your typical practice schedule look like?

KO: We practice every day. We usually get Sundays off, then practice Mondays through Thursdays and then have games on Fridays and Saturdays. We also lift on Mondays and Wednesdays.

But sometimes that changes. For instance, this week we only play Harvard on Saturday so, most likely, we will get an extra day off during the week to rest our bodies.

Do you have any pregame rituals or routines?

KO: It’s really about routines. A lot of people will just kick a soccer ball around for a bit. Other girls will tape their stick while watching the ice to kind of visualize what they need to do for the game. So yeah, everyone has their own little quirky routine. I know that I also kick a soccer ball around with Lindsey Allen [’16]. It definitely keeps me relaxed and ready to go into the next game. We’re not very good, but it is fun! We’re really trying to stick to our game plan going into the Harvard game. They’re definitely a really great team, but so are we and we have the confidence now to go in and win this game. It’ll be especially fun to be at home playing them this time and have the support from all of our fans here.

Aside from hockey, how have you enjoyed Dartmouth so far?

KO: I love Dartmouth! I love it because of the character of the people here. I’m from a small town in Canada where we’re kind of in the middle of nowhere.

So I’m just used to having a lot of close friends and knowing a bunch of people around me and being close with a lot of people. So I really love it here at Dartmouth because I can walk across campus and recognize so many faces, but yet I also feel like I can meet new people at the same time. So it’s really a great balance that Dartmouth has. I also think the location is just absolutely beautiful. You really can’t beat it.

This interview has been edited and condensed

ANNIE KUNSTER/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Fanni Szabo ’17 and Milica Toskovic ’15 combined for 29 points in Saturday’s win over Harvard.

B y Kourtney Kawano The Dartmouth Staff

With a critical second-half surge, the women’s basketball team defeated Harvard University, 76-61, at Lavietes Pavilion this past Saturday to open conference play.

After dropping both games to the Crimson (6-8, 0-1 Ivy) last season, the Big Green (10-5, 1-0 Ivy) proved it would be a force to be reckoned in the Ivy League this year.

Harvard’s Annmarie Healy opened the game with a layup before Fanni Szabo ’17 hit a three-point jump shot off an assist by Amber Mixon ’18 to give Dartmouth an early lead. Less than a minute later, Mixon stole the ball and added another two points with a layup of her own.

The Crimson momentarily gained the lead as both teams exchanged possession and baskets, but the Big Green managed to stay within one point of the home team with 10:00 remaining in the first half thanks to a series of Harvard errors and two three-point shots by Katie Vareika ’17.

Dartmouth continued to put pressure on its opponent with layups by Lakin Roland ’16 and Olivia Smith ’18 before a jump shot by Milica Toskovic ’15 gave the Big Green a three point lead with 52 seconds remaining in the half.

Harvard came within one point of Dartmouth off a shot by Erin McDonnell, but a jump shot at the buzzer by Roland off an assist by Toskovic put the Big Green up, 3229, going into the second half.

Playing with confidence, Mixon

said, led to solid offensive possessions going into the game.

“We played with effort and tried to outwork our opponent,” Mixon said.

Szabo began the second period with a jump shot and a three-pointer to extend the visiting team’s lead, 37-29.

The Big Green never looked back as it continued to play aggressively, yet strategically by converting Crimson turnovers into offensive drives.

With 15:55 remaining, Toskovic capitalized on a defensive rebound and hit a three-point shot to bring the score to 42-31.

With 11 minutes left in the game, Roland caught fire, scoring eight straight points for Dartmouth. She started off her run by drawing a foul and hitting one of her two free throws.

In the next two offensive possessions, she proceeded to knock down a jumper and then earn another trip to the line. This time, she would sink both attempts. Roland capped off her point spree by sinking a threepointer, extending the Dartmouth lead to 14.

In the last five minutes of the game, Dartmouth managed to outplay the Crimson, making 14 out of 19 shots to prevent a Harvard comeback.

Two free throw shots by Szabo brought the score to 76-61 before the final buzzer ended the game, giving the Big Green its first 1-0 Ivy League start in five years.

“It was awesome to get a win at Harvard to start off Ivy play,” Roland said. “It serves as fuel to our fire to keep improving everyday.”

Roland led the Big Green with 25 points and nine rebounds, while Toskovic and Szabo added 15 and 14 points, respectively. Vareika finished with 11 points — three of which were three-pointers.

Dartmouth and Harvard were neck and neck throughout the game in field goal percentage with the Big Green shooting 41 percent and the Crimson shooting 37 percent.

Harvard dominated Dartmouth in the paint, scoring 34 out of its 61 points down low.

“Harvard’s post play is very strong,” head coach Belle Koclanes said in an interview with Dartmouthsports.com. “We wanted to limit their opportunities. We did a good job holding [Crimson junior] Temi Fagbenle with positive possessions.”

Dartmouth was able to separate itself from its opponent in the success it enjoyed shooting from deep.

Outside the three-point arc, the Big Green hit 53 percent of its shots, good for 30 points, compared to the Crimson’s 21 percent.

Both teams rebounded well with Harvard taking a slight 42-37 edge, but Dartmouth enjoyed much more success in converting turnovers into points, scoring 13 off turnovers compared to just five for Harvard.

“We could have done a better job by rebounding and limiting our opponent to only one shot,” Mixon said. “But our focus during the game contributed to the win.”

The women will take a bye this week before challenging Harvard again on Saturday, Jan. 24 at Leede Arena as the first of its seven home games this conference season. The matchup will begin at 6 p.m.