The Dartmouth Sports Weekly 11/2/15

11.02. 15

FOOTBALL NARROWLY LOSES TO HARVARD 14-13

MEN’S BASKETBALL BEATS KEISER UNIVERSITY

WOMEN’S HOCKEY SPLITS WEEKEND GAMES ALEXANDER AGADJANIAN, ELIZA MCDONOUGH, ZOE WANG/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SW 2

BY THE NUMBERS

1 Point loss by football against Harvard University

7 Saves by Stefan Cleveland ’16 in men’s soccer win

2 Interceptions by Will McNamara ’16 in football loss

3 Second half goals for field hockey captain Rebecca Hu ’15

Football drops a heartbreaker to undefeated

B y alexander agadjanian The Dartmouth Staff

It wasn’t supposed to end this way.

For almost the entirety of last Friday’s game, Dartmouth football simply dominated Harvard University, and shockingly so in what seemed destined to be a tighter game. Every big play, every turnover, every lucky break and every point went the visitors’ way for the first 53 minutes of action. In what was unequivocally the most important game of the season, and perhaps the most monumental in decades for the program, the Big Green could not have envisioned a better course for much of the game to take.

With its loathsome rival and Ivy League behemoth on its heels, though, heartbreak struck the Dartmouth team.

Harvard finally found the end zone at the time it really mattered, putting its first points on the board at 6:38 in the fourth quarter off a turnover. The Crimson later engineered a touchdown drive to take the final lead 14-13 with 38 seconds left. Dartmouth quickly mounted an offensive push the other way in one last gasp of life, but the No. 15 Crimson (7-0, 4-0 Ivy) blocked a 46-yard field goal with a second remaining to preserve the win and hand the No. 22 Big Green (6-1, 3-1 Ivy) its first loss on the season.

Harvard continued its unbeaten streak against Dartmouth since 2003 and extended its current winning streak to 21 games, but more importantly, now possesses the inside track to secure its fourth Ivy League title in the last five years.

Playing in a nationally broadcast game and in front of more than 13,000 fans — with the Big Green faithful, composed of students, alumni and family out in full, raucous force — Dartmouth jumped on the opposing defense right off the bat. On the first play from scrimmage, quarterback Dalyn Williams ’16 swiftly followed a running lane up the middle for 14

Katie McKay ’16 Editor-in-Chief

11. 02. 15

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2015

Luke McCann ’16 Executive Editor

Joe Clyne ’16 Henry Arndt ’16 Sports Editors

Kate Herrington ’17 Photography Editor

Justin Levine ’16 Publisher

Jessica Avitabile ’16 Executive Editor

ALEXANDER AGADJANIAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Though ahead by 13 points with less than seven minutes to go, the Big Green was unable to close out the win against Harvard.

yards. Two plays later, the senior arced a ball that fell into the hands of favorite target Ryan McManus ’15 to catapult the team 43 yards forward to the opposing 20-yard line. The opening drive stalled thereafter, but Alex Gakenheimer ’17 ensured his side would come away with points after splitting the uprights on a 33-yard field goal to put the Big Green on the board 3-0 over Harvard.

T h e fo l l ow i n g p o s s e s s i o n brought even more success. After a face mask penalty on Harvard helped move the chains, Williams threw a wide-receiver screen to KJ Booze ’16 to reach a first down right before opposing pressure swallowed him. An effective ground game guided the way before a key third-down conversion through the air set Dartmouth up 12 yards from the end zone. On third and goal from the three-yard line, Ryder Stone ’18 evaded a defender and shed off another tackle as he lunged for the score, giving Dartmouth a 10-0 lead.

Largely absent throughout the season, the Big Green rushing attack offered a vital boost to the offense early on Friday. Not only was he trusted to finish off the drive, but Stone also notched two first-down runs along the way. In addition to one from Williams, Dartmouth had gained more first downs on the ground than in the air during its only touchdown possession. By end of the first quarter, the team still had more rushing first-down conversions and had an edge in ground yardage over Harvard.

On the other side of the football, the Harvard offense — despite getting shutout up to this point — did not necessarily have a despondent showing. Quarterback Scott Hosch led the unit to pick up sizable chunks of yardage on

several drives, as the Dartmouth defense proved penetrable. Yet the distinction here lies with how the Big Green responded to its opponent on the brink of scoring.

In the first half, Harvard completed one passing play for more than 53 yards, two for more than 20 and two for 10 yards, in addition to a 20-yard run, all of which rendered futile by an opportunistic Dartmouth defense.

With the Crimson moving the ball more productively on its second drive, a pass interference call on the third down set the home team up with first and goal from the 10. The Dartmouth defense, however, stiffened up, and after Hosch tripped on a third-down play in the backfield, safety David Caldwell ’16 blocked a 31-yard field goal attempt.

Two drives later, following a long pass set Harvard up with great field position minutes before halftime, Will McNamara ’16 lurked in coverage and intercepted a throw over the middle by Hosch. Coming

at his team’s own five-yard line, the play represented a crucial stop and kept Harvard off the scoreboard through half an hour of play.

But the senior linebacker was not done on the night. On the opening possession of the third quarter, the Crimson received an excellent starting point after a 53-yard kickoff return put it at Dartmouth’s 35-yard line. On fourth and six from the 31, though, Hosch moved to his left and — opting not to run for what would have been an easy first down — instead threw a pass across his body that got picked off again by McNamara.

Yet even these two thrilling, drive-snapping plays couldn’t match what the Dartmouth defense did in its next two times out.

Midway through the third quarter, Hosch cultivated a rapport with top target Ben Braunecker—connecting three times for 28 yards and two first downs—as the Crimson advanced deep inside Big Green territory once again.

On a first-down run from inside

ALEXANDER AGADJANIAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

A blocked field goal on the game’s final play thwarted the Big Green’s dreams.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2015

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

Harvard in pivotal Ivy League battle

the 20, Folarin Orimolade ’17 caused Paul Stanton to fumble, and Caldwell recovered the ball at the 12-yard line to mark the third consecutive Harvard possession to end in a turnover.

Meanwhile on offense, Dartmouth took a slight step back from its earlier exploits, which, as Williams noted, came in part to due to effective changes made by the Harvard defense.

“They got a decent amount of pressure, and I didn’t do a good job of checking the ball down,” Williams said. “So I put a lot of that on myself.

We just didn’t put the ball in the end zone, we had our chances. They came out [in the second half], and they were expecting our deeper patterns, doing a good job of matching up with our underneath routes, so they did a good job of adjusting.”

On the second drive of the second half, however, Williams begun to elevate his passing proficiency, throwing for 59 yards to put the team within striking distance of another score. The Big Green would have to settle for a 39yard field goal and a 13-0 edge. This came at the end of what was perhaps the biggest missed opportunity of the contest, as Victor Williams ’16 dropped a pass that found him wide open from McManus on a trick play.

The failure to pad its lead with another four points — the difference between a touchdown and a field goal — would soon loom large for the Big Green.

As the game entered the final quarter and Harvard continued to move forward on offense, Dartmouth executed a goal-line stand for the ages. Another great kickoff return jumpstarted the drive for the Crimson, and two quick passes through the air by Hosch soon had his team within yards of a touchdown. But amid seven carries from inside the four-yard line — one of which moved the chains to reset the downs — the Big Green defense valiantly stuffed each and every run and quarterback sneak, yielding only three yards and thus forcing a turnover on downs. With just over 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the suffocating stand felt like a defining juncture in the game.

“That will go down [as] a legendary goal-line stand,” head coach Buddy Teevens said. “I will never forget that.

The passion, the emotion on the side line, seeing the look in the eyes of the guys on the field, the excitement in the stands behind us. Dartmouth was well represented today, there’s a lot of folks that came down. None of us will forget that, we’ll talk about that forever.”

The ball returned to the Big Green one yard from its own end zone, but the drive would only last a short time. After two short carries and an incomplete pass, Dartmouth once again punted the ball, with the Crimson starting play on their own 49-yard line. Harvard made a few plays to move the ball up the field, but with time ticking in the final quarter, the Big Green still maintained

SW 3

THE

RUNDOWN Football SCHOOL

IVY

OVERALL

HARVARD DARTMOUTH PENN PRINCETON BROWN YALE COLUMBIA CORNELL

4-0 3-1 3-1 2-2 2-2 1-3 1-3 0-4

7-0 6-1 4-3 5-2 4-3 4-3 2-5 0-7

Women’s Soccer

ALEXANDER AGADJANIAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Harvard’s starting quarterback, Scott Hosch, moved to 13-0 on his career with the win.

a solid 13-0 lead.

Later in the drive, with all the momentum on Dartmouth’s side and with Harvard facing a 4th-and-12 situation, Hosch accelerated his team’s comeback trail after lofting a deep ball to the to the left end zone pylon, which receiver Seitu Smith somehow managed to come down with for the 39-yard touchdown with under seven minutes to play.

The two teams traded punts thereafter, but Dartmouth quickly gave back the ball after suffering a crushing late blow, as Crimson linebacker Jacob Lindsey forced Stone to cough up a ball that Harvard pounced on at the Dartmouth 49-yard line. Retaking possession at 2:54, the home side made sure its last chance would not go to waste.

Methodically navigating the short and favorable field position, Hosch followed a first-down run by his running back Stanton with two passing ones of his own to set Harvard up nine yards removed from the end zone. Hoping for a repeat goal-line stand, the Big Green defense failed to notice it left Crimson receiver Justice Shelton-Mosely open right inside the end zone, to whom Hosch — rolling to his right — zipped the ball for the decisive touchdown. An ensuing successful extra point gave Harvard a 14-13 lead, its first of the night.

Determined to not let its season’s title aspirations all but evaporate, the Dartmouth offense concocted one last scoring opportunity. With only 38 seconds remaining, the Big Green started at the 35-yard line after a Crimson kickoff fell out of bounds, and Williams quickly stringed together two passes to get to Harvard’s 29. The final seconds ticked off following an incompletion — leading to the Harvard team prematurely swarming the field — but the officials correctly put

one second back on the clock. With one last chance to take the lead, though, the Harvard rush pierced through Dartmouth’s special teams protection as sophomore Stone Hart deflected a 46-yard Gakenheimer field goal attempt to seal the Crimson victory.

“It’s a tough loss obviously, it’s not the best feeling in the world,” McNamara said in succinctly summing up his team’s emotions after the game.

By the end of the devastating night for the Big Green, Dartmouth held a slight advantage in total offensive yardage as well as possessed a +2 turnover margin on the day. In an improvement from last Saturday against Columbia University, the Big Green offensive line granted plenty of time for Williams to throw, who in turn was able to connect on several deep passing plays. In the early stages of the second quarter, a completion also gave the senior quarterback the school’s all-time record in passing yards.

On the other end, as a result of his late game heroics, Harvard’s quarterback Hosch increased his undefeated mark as a starter to 13-0.

With three games left in the 2015 season for both teams, Dartmouth — as long as it wins out — can only hope for Harvard to slip up and get upset at some point to have any chance of splitting the Ivy League crown. Nevertheless, McNamara asserted that he and his teammates will not ease up as the season winds down.

“We have three games left,” he said.

“Our team loves playing with each other, so we’ll take advantage of all three.”

The Big Green will take on Cornell University in another Friday night game this weekend at 8 p.m. in Hanover. Only the Big Red, along with Brown and Princeton Universities, remain in Dartmouth’s schedule to wrap up the season.

SCHOOL

IVY

OVERALL

PRINCETON HARVARD COLUMBIA CORNELL BROWN PENN DARTMOUTH YALE

6-0 4-1-1 3-2-1 2-3-1 2-3-1 1-2-3 0-3-3 1-5

13-3 7-7-2 7-7-1 9-3-4 6-7-2 6-4-5 7-4-4 4-9-2

Men’s Soccer SCHOOL

IVY

OVERALL

DARTMOUTH BROWN COLUMBIA HARVARD CORNELL PRINCETON PENN YALE

5-0 3-1-1 3-2 3-2 2-3 1-3-1 1-3-1 0-4-1

9-4-1 9-5-1 9-4-1 7-6-2 4-10-1 7-5-2 2-9-2 1-12-1

Field Hockey SCHOOL

IVY

OVERALL

PRINCETON PENN CORNELL COLUMBIA HARVARD DARTMOUTH BROWN YALE

6-0 5-1 4-2 3-3 3-3 2-4 1-5 0-6

9-6 13-2 10-6 9-7 8-8 7-9 7-9 2-14

Volleyball SCHOOL

IVY

OVERALL

HARVARD PRINCETON YALE DARTMOUTH COLUMBIA BROWN PENN CORNELL

7-3 6-4 6-4 6-4 5-5 4-6 4-6 2-8

11-9 11-8 11-8 9-10 7-12 10-12 10-12 6-14

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SW 4

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2015

Women’s hockey ties No. 4 Clarkson and loses to St. Lawrence B y sam stockton The Dartmouth

Following a disappointing 4-2 defeat at the hands of St. Lawrence University on Friday night, the No. 10 women’s hockey team rallied from a three-goal deficit to tie No. 4 Clarkson University Saturday afternoon.

On Friday, SLU edged Dartmouth with a 4-2 win in a game that saw four goals scored on power plays. SLU defenseman Megan Armstrong opened the scoring at the 3:42 mark of the first period.

This lead did not last long, though, as winger Lindsey Allen ’16 found the back of the net on a power play less than three minutes later.

Ailish Forfar ’16 notched another power-play marker at 11:45 of the first frame, but SLU was able to answer with a power-play strike of its own before the first period concluded, knotting the score at 2-2.

“We had to battle harder than we did and be 100 percent committed to the stuff we’re working on,” head coach Mark Hudak said.

“We needed to come out with more energy and more jump.”

The Big Green struggled to regain its footing and surrendered a second power-play goal early in the second that went unanswered.

With 22 seconds to play, SLU iced the game with an empty-net goal.

“We had a pretty good game, but we didn’t execute as best as we could have. We were pretty disappointed, and we thought we should have won that game,”

captain Laura Stacey ’16 said.

On Saturday, the Big Green came out with the energy its coach had hoped to see in the Friday game, but the team did not see the first period go the way its wanted.

Stacey was denied on an early breakaway, and subsequently, an early power play saw the Big Green struggle to get pucks on net.

In a 4-on-3 Clarkson power play with Devon Moir ’17 and Allen in the penalty box, Clarkson’s Erin Ambrose sent a cross-ice pass to fellow defenseman Savannah Harmon, who collected the pass and fired a shot past Big Green netminder Christie Honor ’19, who was making her first career start.

Eight minutes later, Honor was unable to corral a Clarkson dumpin that caromed off the end boards to Golden Knight center Genevieve Bannon for a wide-open goal.

Then, in the waning moments of the first, Cayley Mercer was able to extend the Golden Knight lead to three on a wrap-around.

“We got ourselves in a hole, but I thought we were playing pretty well in the first period. We had some unlucky bounces, and we had a bad penalty — it happens,” Hudak said.

Hudak said he went into the locker room between the first and second periods and told the team that it had been a rough period, but that “Good things will happen — just be patient.”

Following Mercer’s goal, Hudak lifted Honor in favor of regular starter Robyn Chemago ’17.

“I had full belief in [Honor],

but I still prepare my own way as if I’m coming in,” Chemago said.

“I think a big difference is that you have to keep relaxed on the bench. You can’t keep focused 100 percent of the time, but you have to be ready to go,” Chemago said of her relief effort.

After the goalie change late in the first frame, the Big Green came out with the same energy Hudak wanted to open the second, and the team’s energy began to be reflected on the score sheet. The Golden Knights were still able to generate a flurry of early chances, but Chemago repeatedly smothered contested pucks in heavy net-front traffic.

At the 17 minute mark, Brooke Ahbe ’18 sent a pass below the goal line to Stacey. After Stacey returned the pass back, Ahbe was able to one-time a shot past Clarkson goalie Shea Tiley and put Dartmouth on the board.

“We weathered a little bit of a storm in the second period. We got that one goal, which was a really nice goal and then things started to go our way a little bit,” Hudak said.

Stacey also emphasized the significance of the momentum the Big Green garnered following its first goal.

“It was awesome, [it caused a] total shift in everybody’s outlook,” Stacey said. “Before, we were all thinking, ‘We’re down three goals against one of the best teams in the nation. How are we going to get back?’ It totally shifted everybody’s vibes on the bench, and after that

ELIZA MCDONOUGH/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Women’s hockey scored three straight goals to tie Clarkson University on Saturday.

goal we completely took it to them.”

Two and a half minutes after Ahbe’s goal, Kennedy Ottenbreit ’17 added a power play marker on a slapshot from the top of the left circle to pull the Big Green to within one goal heading into the third.

Just under six minutes into the third period, Allen scored on a beautiful backhand on a three-ontwo odd-man rush. Despite numerous chances in the remainder of the third and five-minute overtime period, neither team would be able to find the back of the net the rest of the way.

“We battle really hard, and they got a couple early goals, but we never gave up, and I think that says a lot about our character,” Stacey

said. “They couldn’t keep getting the bounces — it was our turn.”

Dartmouth has started the season 1-1-1 with a huge seasonopening upset win over Harvard University, followed by Friday’s disappointing loss and Saturday’s come-from-behind tie.

“I’m really happy with where we are,” Hudak said. “We’ve played three teams, and I think all three teams are top 10 in the country right now. To come out of that with a win, a tie and a loss against those three incredible opponents means I’m really happy with where we are right now.”

The Big Green will return to action next weekend with road matchups against Brown and Yale Universities.

Men’s basketball beats Keiser University in exhibition

B y mark cui The Dartmouth

After beginning practices in early October, the basketball team hosted an exhibition match against Keiser University on Oct. 29, and with a final score of 81-51, the Big Green dominated the game. In the demolition, four Dartmouth players scored in double figures, with Guilien Smith ’19 leading the way with 14 points on 5-for-11 shooting.

One of last year’s leading scorers Connor Boehm ’16 also chipped in 13 points in just 16 minutes. Miles Wright ’18 and Evan Boudreaux ’19 rounded out the scoring, each adding 11 points.

The team’s win was keyed in by a particularly strong first half, in which the team outscored Keiser 43 to 15. Dartmouth also dominated in several key categories outside of total points, including rebounds and assists. The team limited its own personal fouls to a mere 10 total while taking advantage of Keiser’s 20

personal fouls by scoring 17 points off of 20 free throw opportunities.

Although the win did not officially count toward its record, the team enjoyed its first real game experience of the season.

“It got our freshmen acclimated with the way we play and the speed of the game. It was good for all of us to be out there in a real game setting,” Wright said. “Even if you go through preseason, 20 practices and have a lot of experience, there’s no practice that’s similar to a real game as a real game.”.

Wright said he thought the team played well, particularly with how well the team shared the ball and defended against Keiser. With the exhibition game behind them and the regular season beginning soon, he said he hoped the team would be able to translate the same strong play into the rest of the season.

Although it did not necessarily contribute to the team’s overall record, Taylor Johnson ’18 also noted that the team can learn from

the exhibition game.

“It was just our first game, so we got a lot to improve on. We’ve got to sharpen up a lot of things,” Johnson said. “Overall, just refine everything, getting it smoothed out, getting used to playing with teammates and knowing what each other is going to do.”

The team, he said, is looking forward to the challenge that will come with more games. With the rest of the season will also come time for new players to acclimate themselves to playing and the team as a whole coming to fill the positions of graduated players. Overall, Wright said, this year the team prides itself on its depth.

“The thing I’m looking forward to the most is the guys who are going to step up into their positions and fill those minutes and stats,” Wright said. “A lot of people don’t understand, especially the media and anyone really outside our team, the depth that we have.”

One reason for the great depth

of this year’s team is the addition of three highly-touted freshmen, particularly after Thursday’s game saw two first-year players posting some of the highest point totals on the team.

“Our team’s really close. The three freshmen are all great guys and they all fit right in,” Johnson said. “Some of the older guys take them under their wing and show them the ropes.”

Johnson pointed out the amount of time that both Smith and Boudreaux spent playing in the game against Keiser and the contributions they made to the team’s victory. He also highlighted Michael Stones ’19 as someone he sees proving to be a great player throughout the season.

Overall, he said that all three have been working hard and developing well.

The budding team chemistry has also led to a team-first mentality.

Wright, the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year, looks to continue improving both individually and as

a team player.

“Individually, I’m looking to get my teammates more involved and become more of a leader,” Wright said. “I’m looking to step more into the leadership role and to make both my team better and myself individually. At the end, team success is the most important.”

On Nov. 13, the men’s basketball team will formally kick off its 2015-16 season with an away game against Seton Hall University in Newark, New Jersey.

“Our team mentality is that we’re going into the game looking to win,” Cole Harrison ’17 said. “Seton Hall is a storied team with a rich history, and their guys are very athletic. It’s going to be a tough game, but we’re hoping to play good defense, teamfirst basketball and get the win.”

Last season, Dartmouth finished on a five-game win streak, including a victory over first-place Yale University, to end the regular season with a respectable 7-7 conference record.