The Dartmouth 01/06/2020

01.06.20

Men’s basketball wraps up nonconference play with 7-8 record p. 5

Dartmouth football racks up postseason honors p. 7 Women’s basketball preps for Ivy play after tough winter break p. 8

Men’s hockey at 5-3-1 in ECAC play after solid winter break effort p. 4 COURTESY OF DREW O’CONNOR

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MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2020

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

The weekend Roundup

m Basketball

Compiled by the DARTMOUTH SPORTS STAFF

W HOCKEY Women’s ice hockey had a solid showing at home this past weekend, pulling out a win against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in freshman goaltender Hannah Humphries, ’23’s first shutout of her career and then coming back from a three goal deficit to tie Union College.

On Friday, the Big Green dominated the first and third periods, and while RPI put on a good performance in the second, the Engineers were still unable to make it past the Big Green’s stout defense. Dartmouth outshot RPI 37-14, and the Big Green left the ice on top, 4-0.

24 hours later, the Big Green took on the Dutchwomen of Union College. The visitors took an early lead, scoring off their first shot two minutes in and adding another goal just

five minutes later. By the end of the first period, the tally was 3-1, with Dartmouth’s only goal scored off of a penalty from Gabby Billing ’22.

The second period was a strong showing for both teams defensively — neither team could put the puck in the back of the net. At the beginning of the third period, however, the Big Green scored in a frenzy. With a goal from Sara McClanahan ’22 and another for Billing, the Big Green tied up what had been shaping up to be a loss. Overtime remained scoreless despite a few penalties, and the game ended in a 3-3 tie.

The Big Green will host the Princeton University Tigers this Friday at 6 p.m. and the Quinnipiac University Bobcats Saturday at 3 p.m.

Zachary ZacharyBenjamin Benjamin’19 ’19 Debora Hyemin Han ’20 Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief

Editor-in-Chief

01.06.20 Vol.CLXXV CLXXVI No. 4.30.18 4.23.18 Vol. Vol. CLXXV No. No. 27 21108

Hanting Hanting Guo Guo ’19 ’19 Aidan Sheinberg ’20 Publisher Publisher

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Ioana IoanaSolomon Solomon’19 ’19 Amanda AmandaZhou Zhou ’19 Alex Fredman ’20 ’19 Executive Editors Executive Editors Executive Editor

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ALEX FREDMAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The Big Green finished its nonconference schedule with a 7-8 record.

T he men’s basketball team concluded nonconference play on Thursday on a 77-68 loss to the University of Vermont in front of a sellout crowd at Leede Arena.

The Catamounts were led by Stef Smith, who scored 26 points. Aaryn Rai ’21 led the Big Green in scoring with 18 points and went 8-for-9 from the field, and Chris Knight ’21 put up 17 points.

The Big Green, however, turned the ball over 18 times, and Vermont finished with eight turnovers.

Dartmouth jumped out to a 19-13 lead, but the Catamounts fought back to tie the game at 40 at halftime. The teams were tied at 62 in the second half, but Vermont pulled away late for its third straight victory. The Catamounts have now won 12 straight and 20 of the last 21 matchups against the Big Green.

Dartmouth will turn its attention to conference play, which starts on Jan. 18 with a road test at Harvard University.

W SQUASH

m SQUASH

The Big Green women’s squash team opened 2020 with a 7-2 win over Williams College on Saturday afternoon. It was the first win of the season for Dartmouth, which now holds a 1-2 record.

Ellie Gozigian ’21, Emma MacTaggart ’22, Caroline Mollenkopf ’22, Sandra Reiss ’21 and Emma Supattapone ’23 all swept their matches for the Big Green. Jesse Brownell ’23 and Brynn Bank ’21 won their matches in four games to put the Ephs away.

The Big Green will host the Princeton University Tigers in Hanover on Saturday and the University of Pennsylvania Quakers the next day.

The Big Green men’s squash team earned its first win of the season in its first match of 2020 at Williams College on Saturday afternoon, improving the team’s record to 1-2.

Jack Bell ’22, Toby Harding ’21, Tucker Martino ’22, Sam Supattapone ’21 and Lucan White ’23 all picked up sweeps. Brandon De Otaduy Nam ’20 won 11-13, 11-3, 6-11, 11-6, 11-8, while James Bell ’21 won his match by a score of 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6.

Dartmouth will look to earn its second win of the season next Saturday when it hosts Princeton University, followed by a matchup against the University of Pennsylvania on Sunday.

MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2020

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

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M HOCKEY

The Big Green beat Ivy League and ECAC rival Princeton in overtime this weekend before losing to Quinnipiac in the teams’ second matchup this season. The Big Green is currently 7-5-2.

EVAN MORGAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Men’s ice hockey started off the new year right, coming up big with an overtime win against Ivy League opponent Princeton University on the road. A battle throughout, both the Tigers and the Big Green held the lead at different points, but until the last 20 seconds of the game, it looked like the Big Green would be victorious in regulation. However, Princeton scored on an empty net with 16.4 seconds remaining, tying the game at three goals apiece and taking it into overtime.

The Big Green held strong and came out on top only 61 seconds into OT with a goal off a loose puck from Drew O’Connor ’22.

m SWIMMING The start of the new year brought a 157-83 home win over Bates College for Dartmouth men’s swimming and diving.

The divers had a strong showing, with Jonathan Hu ’23, Ray Neistat ’20, Kyle Schubert ’23 and Justin Sodokoff ’21 all receiving NCAA Zone A Diving cuts.

Sodokoff broke both pool and school records on both boards.

The swimmers had an equally strong showing, placing first in the 200m freestyle, 500m freestyle, 1000m

freestyle, 200 backstroke, 200m butterfly, 200m breaststroke and 400 individual medley. Connor LaMastra ’21 took first in the 1000 free and 200 back while Joe Moll ’22 placed first in both the 400 IM and 500 free. To cap off the meet, the Big Green came in first and second in the 200m freestyle relay with times of 1:26.20 and 1:28.31.

The Big Green will race against Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania next weekend.

The Big Green then traveled to Connecticut to face off against Quinnipiac University. There, the Big Green suffered a 5-1 loss, which ended a three-game winning streak. Dartmouth’s lone goal came from Tyler Campbell ’23. Campbell’s shutout-ending goal was his second of his career — his first came against Quinnipiac in the Big Green’s first matchup against the Bobcats this season.

The Big Green heads to Burlington on Friday to take on the University of Vermont and will return home on Saturday to take on Boston University.

w SWIMMING The women’s swimming and diving team had an outstanding performance on Saturday in its meet against Bates College, beating the Bobcats 171-71.

The Big Green dominated the diving boards throughout the day, sweeping the podium in both the 3-meter and 1-meter. Isabella Lichen ’22 and Maggie Pionzio ’20 finished first in their respective dives which earned them NCAA Zone A Diving cuts.

T h e s w i m m e r s w e r e e q u a l l y successful: Dartmouth took first in the 400 medley, 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 500 free, 200 fly, 200 breast and 200 free relay. Mia Leko ’22 led the pack with first-place finishes in both the 200 free and the 200 fly.

The Big Green will travel to New Haven to race against Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania next weekend.

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2020

Men’s hockey at 5-3-1 in ECAC play after solid winter break effort B y DEVAN FINK

The Dartmouth Staff

Over the last few weeks, the Dartmouth men’s hockey team (75-2, 5-3-1 Eastern College Athletic Conference) has racked up some impressive victories.

On Dec. 7, the Big Green defeated No. 2 Cornell University in Hanover, handing the Big Red its first loss of the season. At the time, the Big Red was the last remaining undefeated team in the nation, but behind the outstanding play of goaltender Adrian Clark ’20 — who saved 39-of-40 shots on goal — the Big Green prevailed.

“They’re always a fun team to play against,” said forward Drew O’Connor ’22. “They always have a pretty good crowd. They bring the band down and everything. We just played a really strong game. Clark played great in net and really helped us win that one. That was a huge win for our team.”

The stunner against Cornell was not Dartmouth’s only success in December.

With wins versus Colorado College and the University of Connecticut at the end of the year, the Big Green claimed the Ledyard Classic championship for the first time since the 2015-16 season.

The Classic, established in 1978, brings three other hockey teams from around the country to Thompson Arena in Hanover in order to provide Upper Valley residents with high-quality college hockey. The tournament eliminated its traditional championship game before the 2014-15 season, instead awarding the title to the team with the best record after predetermined matchups.

“It’s a great atmosphere,” O’Connor said. “It’s fun to have a lot of teams around, and it’s a ton of fun to be able to play for a trophy. Any time you can do that, it’s a great weekend.”

In the Big Green’s first contest, the special teams units proved to be the difference. Dartmouth scored on each of its first two power plays, with O’Connor tallying late in the first period and Matt Baker ’21 giving the team a 3-1 lead with a score in the second.

Meanwhile, the defensive unit killed all four Colorado College power plays en route to a 5-2 victory.

While the Big Green has been great on the power play this year, converting

on 23.8 percent of man-advantages this year, the team has struggled to fend off penalties nearly as successfully, with its 74.1 percent kill rate ranking last in the 12-team conference.

“The penalty kill is something that we’ve been working on a lot,” O’Connor said. “I think we do have a pretty good system. We just have been scored on a little too much, so getting that cleared up and figured out is going to be huge for us because we’re going to have to be able to kill off penalties if we want to be successful for the rest of the season.”

The Huskies provided a much tougher test the following day. The teams traded tallies in the second period, but UConn jumped out to a 3-1 lead with just 15 minutes remaining on two Carter Turnbull goals in the span of 42 seconds. O’Connor subsequently scored to cut the deficit in half, and Dartmouth found itself with a chance to tie after an interference call on Husky forward Vladislav Firstov put the team on the power play a minute later.

Chaos ensued. As time on the advantage wound down, a scrum in front of the net developed, and the referees lost sight of the puck. After a review, they determined that Sam Hesler ’22 had scored the equalizer, knotting the score at three apiece with just over 10 minutes left.

Six minutes later, Quin Foreman ’21 claimed a mishandled puck from UConn defenseman Carter Berger at Dartmouth’s blue line and turned on the blazers.

Mark Gallant ’23 joined him down the ice to create a two-on-one, but Foreman completed the job himself, dashing across the top of the faceoff circle and firing the game-winning shot from the high slot. Behind Foreman’s go-ahead goal, Dartmouth completed the comeback in resounding fashion, clinching the title with a 4-3 victory. “[Foreman] can really rip the puck,” head coach Bob Gaudet ’81 said in a Dartmouth Athletics press release. “He kind of looked the defenseman and the goalie off like he was going to pass it and then shot back the other way.”

Foreman was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, with three goals across the two games.

“It is cool to win anything, obviously,” Foreman said. “Any award always means

something, so it was pretty cool to win that. A lot of people are around for the holidays and stuff, so a lot of families were there — my family was there — so it was good to win it with people there.”

Foreman’s five goals and 12 points this season each rank second on the team to O’Connor. The junior was Dartmouth’s leading scorer last season, with 13 goals and 15 assists across 34 games and is again on pace to reach similar marks after a slow start to the season.

“I didn’t score a lot up until that point,” Foreman said. “Maybe I wasn’t getting chances, but maybe I just wasn’t completely there with all my shots, where I was just off by an inch or two. Nothing was really going my way in terms of scoring, but it all came together in the same two nights.”

The victory in the Ledyard Classic may have significant implications for the remainder of Dartmouth’s season. In each of the past two seasons, the winner

of the Ledyard Classic secured a spot in the Frozen Four, with the 2017 Ledyard Classic champion — the University of Minnesota Duluth — winning the entire NCAA Tournament.

The Big Green still has quite a bit of work to do before punching its ticket to the Frozen Four, however. The team has not appeared in the NCAA Tournament since the 1979-80 season, when it earned an automatic trip to the Frozen Four after reaching the ECAC final. Since then, the tournament has expanded to 16 teams, with college hockey play becoming much more widespread across the United States.

While the team’s resume was certainly boosted with the Ledyard Classic title, Dartmouth still likely finds itself on the outside looking in as of today.

In the most recent top-20 released by United States College Hockey Online, the Big Green remained unranked.

Dartmouth was among the unranked teams to receive leftover votes, however,

indicating that the team’s stock has the ability to improve with more consistent play.

“We have some pretty good teams coming up in the next few weeks that are ranked,” Foreman said. “It’s always just the first step to just get right on the bubble and just get over that hump and crack that bubble. The next few weekends are going to be pretty big for that.”

As Foreman noted, the Big Green still has plenty of opportunities to earn more national recognition. In its first two games in the new year, Dartmouth earned an overtime 4-3 win at Princeton University on Jan. 3 but saw its win streak stopped at three with a 5-1 loss at Quinnipiac University the next day.

The Big Green’s next test comes on Friday at the University of Vermont, an unfavorable matchup in recent years. Dartmouth has not knocked off the Catamounts since December 2012, going 0-5-1 in its six most recent contests and 3-10-1 in 14 meetings overall.

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2020

Men’s basketball wraps up nonconference play with 7-8 record B y EMILY LU

The Dartmouth Staff

Many students traveled during the six weeks of winter break between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, and the men’s basketball team was no exception.

Dartmouth kicked off its winterim with a five-game road trip spanning from Florida to Maine, which featured a few close losses, a dominant 33-point victory and a 19-point defeat.

Prior to the break, the Big Green was 5-1, a record not seen since the 1996-97 season, when the team finished second in the Ivy League. This early momentum came to a halt on the road, though, with the team slipping to Bowling Green University 76-69. Thirteen points from Aaryn Rai ’21 in the first half were almost enough to help overcome a 19-point deficit, but the Falcons pulled away for the victory. Rai finished with 20 points — a season high at the time — while Taurus Samuels ’22 came off the bench to add 15 of his own.

The team fell to 5-4 after traveling south and dropping games against Georgia State University and the University of South Florida. While James

Foye ’20 and Chris Knight ’21 recorded more than 20 points and to keep the Big Green neck-and-neck with Georgia State, last-second heroics by the Panthers’ Corey Allen sent the game into overtime tied at 69-69. Foye brought Dartmouth within a point with a late 3-pointer, but GSU held on for the 83-80 overtime win.

The margin was much larger against South Florida, as the Big Green struggled with turnovers and lost 63-44.

“Sometimes the result isn’t actually indicative — just the loss isn’t indicative of the progress we’re making,” Foye said. “Once you’re a senior and you’ve been around, you know the difference between a good loss and bad loss, and you know the difference between when we’re playing bad and we’re making strides.”

Despite the three-game losing streak, the team showed up against the University of Maine ready to end its drought. The Big Green dominance started with an 11-0 run that only built momentum until the night ended at 77-44. Four players posted double-digit points, fueling the team to its largest margin of victory against a Division I team since 1997.

“Our coaches just saw some mismatches we could take advantage of,” Rai said. “We felt like we really needed to get a win and we could really jump on them, just the way they played [was] quite slow, so we got to attack them in transition.”

The last of the five away games featured another close loss, this time visiting Boston University. A Big Green comeback looked promising as the team recorded 16 points in the final minute of play to bring the deficit to one as BU struggled at the line, but the incredible run came up just short. The Terriers sank one of two free throws to leave the door open with four seconds to go, but the Big Green could not fire off a shot, losing 78-76.

Back in Hanover, the team split a pair of games to reach a 7-6 record.

Knight’s perfect 8-for-8 shooting along with Rai’s first double-double of the season propelled the team to a 76-60 victory against Central Connecticut State University. The Big Green’s first home loss of the year came after a close 64-60 matchup versus Bryant University in which Knight and Rai both netted double-doubles. .

“We’re feeling really confident; [these games] showed that we can play with any team,” Rai said. “We’ve been in a lot of different scenarios and just that experience is really going to carry over, so [now] in those close games we’re going to come out on top.”

Dartmouth lost its final two games of nonconference play against the University of New Hampshire and the University of Vermont, despite the rare sellout home crowd in the latter game.

The Big Green got within four points of the Catamounts during the final minute, holding NBA draft prospect Anthony Lamb to 10 points and four rebounds, significantly below his season averages.

Rai, who made eight of nine from the field versus Vermont, emphasized the importance of having difficult matchups to prepare for the Ivy League season.

“The coaches schedule the games with different teams, different styles of play similar to what we’re going to see in the Ivy League season,” Rai said. “We can get a good look on all different styles of play and give us a test to see where we’re at. Both offensively and defensively, we’re going to play similar teams, and we’re prepared for what’s to come.”

The Big Green opens up conference play on the road against Harvard University on Jan. 18 before returning to host the Crimson at Leede Arena

the following weekend. Last year, Dartmouth’s 81-63 win against Harvard was team’s first victory to open Ivy League play in 12 years; however, the Big Green may struggle to repeat that feat as the Crimson is currently coming off a six-game win streak with an 11-4 record. Even with Harvard’s notable success, Foye said the Big Green players feel ready after playing similar teams during the nonconference slate.

“When you’re preparing for a team, you look at a team like Harvard coming up,” Foye said. “They pressure the ball a lot, and we have film from a team like USF who pressures. It’s like the analogies like that — it’s a different team, a different uniform, but you feel like you’ve seen it before, which gives you an advantage and calms you down.”

According to Foye, the team ultimately hopes to earn its first bid to the Ivy League tournament by finishing among the top four Ivy teams. The winner of that tournament automatically qualifies for the NCAA Tournament.

“We know that usually historically to make it to that top four you have to be .500 or better, so better than .500 is a good goal for us,” Foye said. “It’s a really hard league, so you have to take it on a game by game basis. Sometimes it just comes down to who can be tougher and hit a couple more clutch shots.”

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The Redshirt Senior

with Evan Griffith ’18 Th’20 The Redshirt Senior: New Year, New Beginnings in College Basketball T he new year means new beginnings and a desire to transform oneself for the better. Some people to the gym for a week or two, some people make an effort to be nicer to others and some people make an effort to put down the bottle. College basketball in 2019 was all about the big stars. Duke University was in the top five of the AP poll last year due to Zion Williamson’s heroics, and Carsen Edwards went on a scoring streak for Purdue University in the NCAA Tournament that ultimately fell at the hands of eventual national champions the University of Virginia. So how did the college basketball world change from last season to this season?

It learned what parity was.

Who is the best team in the country this year? The AP Poll thought it was Michigan State University to start the year, but the Spartans lost to the University of Kentucky in the Champions Classic. Kentucky then claimed the top spot for a week before losing to the University of Evansville, the team that’s currently in last place in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Duke then claimed the top spot for two weeks due to wins over the University of Kansas and Georgetown University before falling at home in overtime to Southland Conference tournament darling Stephen F. Austin University, the second instance of an AP

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

Number 1 falling at home to an unranked team wearing purple this season.

After Duke lost, the University of Louisville took over the top spot for two weeks, but then fell to unranked Texas Tech University by 13 points at Madison Square Garden. Then the last of the four teams in the Champions Classic, Kansas, took the top spot before suffering a very close loss to a ranked Villanova University team. Now Gonzaga University is next on the docket to lose as the AP Number 1 as conference play has gotten underway for most teams. The next unranked team Gonzaga faces at home is Santa Clara University on Jan. 16, and that team is 14-2, so you never know.

What does this all mean? Is the quality of college basketball declining? The highest-rated team

by Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency metric is Duke as of right now; last year this Duke team would have been the sixth-most efficient team. How will ESPN know which player to flash in its viewers’ faces if there’s no obviously dominant team? What does this mean for the NBA if the perceived talent of the recruiting class suffers?

It doesn’t mean anything. The reason fans of college basketball watch college kids play instead of the pros is for the love of the game.

College ball is supposed to be wacky; there’s a reason why March Madness is so popular and why the postseason Cinderellas are so lauded. On any given day, any team can win, and the storylines are dominated by play instead of inter- and intra-team drama in the professional leagues. I love this season and you should too.

As for the best team? Even though they just had its second loss against Villanova, I’d have to go with Kansas. Duke is the most efficient team at the moment, but Kansas has played a much tougher schedule and has the record to show for it. The Jayhawks lost to Villanova and Duke (but it was the first game of the season so I don’t give that game much credit) and has quality wins over Brigham Young University, the University of Dayton, the University of Colorado and Stanford University — with the

Maui Championship title coming with the wins over the former two teams.

Kansas also has who I think is the player of the year candidate in Devon Dotson. The sophomore point guard from Charlotte, NC is averaging 19/4/4 on a 45.8 percent shooting clip per game and is a big reason why Kansas was able to beat upstart Dayton in the Maui Tournament finals. Dotson finished that game with 31 points, six rebounds and five steals in the overtime victory.

The other player for whom you could make an argument is Duke center Vernon Carey Jr., who is averaging 18 points and 9 rebounds per game, but unlike Dotson, has only played above 30 minutes in two games this season, something Dotson has only done twice when Kansas was winning by at least 41 points. *It was at this point when I

MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2020

took a break from writing to watch Syracuse University lose by one point to the University of Notre Dame. I apologize for any potential negativity strewn through the rest of the column.* Now for your Ivy League update. The Ivy League is much like the ACC this year: There are a handful of good teams (Duke, Virginia, Louisville, Florida State University in the for mer, and Harvard University, Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania in the latter), and everyone else stinks. I thought Harvard was going to be the top dog in the league because all three of the Crimson’s senior starters would be healthy, but Seth Towns is now undergoing surgery and will seek one extra year of playing time away from Cambridge. Yale is now my pick to represent the Ivy league in the NCAA postseason, with an away win over Clemson University and a

three-point loss to the University of North Carolina under the Bulldogs’ belts.

I’ll end with some Ivy League predictions, which will be fun to look back on in March. Happy Winter!

Ivy League Tournament: No. 1 Yale vs. No. 4 Brown; No. 2 Harvard vs. No. 3 Penn Ivy League First Team: PG: Mike Smith, Sr., Columbia SG: Brandon Anderson, Sr., Brown SF: Jimmy Boeheim, Jr., Cornell PF: AJ Brodeur, Sr., Penn C: Paul Atkinson, Jr., Yale Ivy League Second Team: PG: Devon Goodman, Sr., Penn SG: James Foye, Sr., Dartmouth SF: Ryan Betley, Sr., Penn PF: Jordan Bruner, Sr., Yale C: Richmond Aririguzoh, Jr., Princeton

MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2020

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

Dartmouth football racks up postseason honors B y DEVAN FINK

The Dartmouth Staff

When looking back at the 2019 Dartmouth football season, it’s hard to fathom everything that happened. A last-second Hail Mary, a resounding victory over Princeton University at Yankee Stadium, the Ivy League title.

These landmark achievements will live on in Big Green football history, and in the month since winning its record-setting 19th Ivy League championship and finishing ranked No. 20 in the FCS Coaches Poll, Dartmouth has continued to rack up the hardware, with multiple individual awards, 16 players named to the All-Ivy League teams and regional and national attention.

At the helm of the Big Green’s success was head coach Buddy Teevens ’79. Teevens was named the Ivy League Coach of the Year, while also taking home similar honors from the New England Football Writers and the American Football Coaches Association for Region 1.

“Maybe they couldn’t figure anybody else to give it to,” Teevens quipped. “These awards, they’re really team-based. We had wonderful players who played well together, guys that worked well together, and I’m just a part of the group. It’s an award for all of us. Our coaches and our players put us in a situation to have success, and the head coach gets all the attention or all the blame — one of the two. This year, it was the attention.”

It was Teevens’ first time winning the award from the Ivy League, which established the Coach of the Year honor in 2014. The distinction is unique in that each of the eight coaches in the conference vote for the most deserving candidate, according to Teevens.

“It is flattering to have your peer group say, ‘Hey, you’re the guy,” Teevens said. “Who knows how the vote went? It could have been 4-3, or something like that; who knows? When your peers say that you’re doing good work, it’s quite an honor.”

Teevens is in the midst of his

second stint as the head of the Big Green, having coached the team first from 1987 to 1991 and winning Ivy League titles in 1990 and 1991. He then left Dartmouth for other opportunities, serving as the head coach at Tulane University and later at Stanford University, but he returned to the College in 2005 to rebuild the program. After a rocky start to his second tenure, Teevens has helped turn the Big Green around this decade. In addition to sealing the Ivy League title, Dartmouth’s victory at Brown also gave Teevens his 105th career victory as the head coach of the Big Green, breaking legendary coach Bob Blackman’s record for most wins in College history.

“To be talked about in that same light [as Blackman] is certainly tremendously flattering,” Teevens said. “For me, it just means that I’ve been [at Dartmouth] a long time.

[Blackman] did so much for the game of football. He was the winningest at Dartmouth, and now that they say that Teevens is in there, I certainly appreciate it — but the goal is always just to win the next one.”

Standout offensive lineman Zach Sammartino ’19 described Teevens’ compassion as a chief reason as to why he is such a successful coach.

“During recruiting, he sat down with me at my school and we talked for an hour,” Sammartino said. “We didn’t actually talk about football at all. He genuinely cares about your life after football and your family. I think that playing under him inspired us to bring the whole team together to know that there’s more after football, but we’re going to get the job done under him for him.”

Linebacker and captain Jack Traynor ’19, said he is impressed by Teevens’ attention to detail.

“He’s always striving to make sure that every aspect of the football program is humming along,” Traynor said. “He is always thinking about how things can be improved ...

Whenever you’re around [Teevens], you have got to make sure you’re on top of your game, because he’s looking at every little detail.”

Teevens was far from the only

GRACIE GOODWIN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Sixteen Dartmouth players were named to All-Ivy teams after the Big Green’s conference title-winning 2019 season.

winner of an esteemed Ivy League distinction. Earlier this month, Traynor won the Bushnell Cup, recognizing him as the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, following a terrific season in which he recorded 75 tackles and four takeaways. This marks the third time in four years a Big Green defenseman has taken home the honors, following in the footsteps of Folarin Orimolade ’16 and Isiah Swann ’20.

“I was kind of shocked,” Traynor said. “If you think about all the great players, especially those on our defense this year and in the league as a whole, it’s really an honor to be thought of in that light.”

Traynor finished his Dartmouth career with 270 tackles, ranking 11th all-time in College history.

He served as a team captain in the past two seasons, becoming just the 13th player in program history to be named a captain in multiple years.

“He’s obviously a tremendous athlete on the field,” Teevens said.

“Coaches have identified him as a guy who makes plays. But the competitive nature off the field, in

terms of a guy who puts it out in the weight room, sets a wonderful example for our players.”

Teevens, in particular, was quite proud of not only Traynor’s accomplishments in uniform, but also his work ethic in the classroom and selflessness.

“He’s a tremendously intelligent individual, aligning people and communicating effectively on the field,” Teevens said. “The great thing is, he’s a 3.8 student in engineering.

He has that same intensity in the classroom. It’s one of the most demanding curriculums or majors that the College offers, and he’s doing that and playing Division I football at an extremely high level.”

In all, 13 Dartmouth football players were named to the All-Ivy League teams, along with three honorable mentions, tying the team with Princeton for the most honors in the conference. This included six first-team selections, the most of any team. For the defense, Traynor and Swann were unanimously selected to the first team, alongside linebacker Nigel Alexander ’20 and linemen

Niko Lalos ’20 and Jackson Perry ’19. On the offense, Sammartino was the only Big Green selection to the Ivy First Team. Lalos, Sammartino, Swann and Traynor garnered spots on the Division I All-New England Team as well, while Swann has been named to four All-American teams since then, including the Associated Press All-America Second Team for the 2019 season.

Sammartino said he was happy to receive recognition after guiding the Big Green offensive line as the only returning O-Line starter.

“I was pretty excited,” Sammartino said. “I feel like, last year, I got snubbed a little bit, so it was definitely a main goal of mine coming in this year — in addition to winning the championship — was to get more recognition this year.”

Sammartino, along with the rest of the team, accomplished both goals. In an outstanding year for the program, the Big Green clinched a share of the Ivy League championship as well as multiple individual awards. The attention has all been cast on Dartmouth.

SW 8

MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2020

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SPORTS

Women’s basketball preps for Ivy play after tough winter break B y KAITLYN LEES

The Dartmouth Staff

Women’s basketball has kept busy this winter break, traveling as far as Chicago to play a total of 10 games.

The team ended its nonconference schedule with a 6-7 record. Now, the Big Green prepares for important Ivy League games starting with a home game against Harvard University on this Saturday as the team seeks to improve upon its fifth place finish in the Ivy League last year.

The Big Green’s winter break schedule is intentionally challenging in order to prepare it for the Ivy League season. December started off with a 70-58 loss to Manhattan College. Despite coming within three in the fourth quarter, Dartmouth allowed the Jaspers a 16-7 run, earning the Big Green its first loss of the 2019-20 season. Next, the Big Green came up short against a hot undefeated Loyola University Chicago team (61-40) and a strong Northwestern University squad (79-37) before the team stopped its slide with a 57-41 win against the University of Maine. At one point down by 11, the Big Green came alive in the second half and outscored the Black Bears 28-9. Playing nearly the entire game, Annie McKenna ’20 led the team in scoring with 18 points and five assists. Dartmouth benefited from a strong defensive performance including Paula Lenart ’20’s 11 rebounds. Elle Louie ’21 tallied seven points, four assists, four rebounds and four steals and Katie Douglas ’22 secured 10 points.

The Big Green kept the momentum going with a 62-51 win over the University of Massachusetts Lowell, featuring especially strong shooting from beyond the 3-point line. The

team’s first home loss of the season came against Texas State University, when a disappointing fourth quarter put the Bobcats 10 points ahead of the Big Green.

However, Dartmouth bounced back with a 66-47 win in the “State Championship” against the University of New Hampshire. Anna Luce ’21 had a strong double-double performance and Douglas tallied 17 points, with McKenna trailing just behind with 14 points.

Next, Boston University capitalized on hot 3-point shooting to deal the Big Green a 74-56 loss. McKenna, Lenart and Luce all scored more than 10 points against the Terriers.

The team returned from holiday break to face the State University of New York at Buffalo in a game that, despite an eventual 73-49 loss, head coach Belle Koclanes thought displayed some of the Big Green’s best basketball.

“Those first three quarters at Buffalo was really fun to watch and fun to coach,” Koclanes said. “It was such a high level and then we ran out of steam in the fourth against an excellent Buffalo team.”

Veronica Kelly ’22 led the team in scoring with 12 points. McKenna had a strong game with 10 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals. Louie said she felt that the team made strides in team energy and atmosphere during the Buffalo game.

Heading into its most recent game against Loyola, the team focused on bringing that standard of play and energy from the first three quarters of Buffalo consistently. After a close first half, Dartmouth sat only two points behind the Greyhounds. The team started the third quarter strong and built an eight-point lead. However,

EVAN MORGAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Annie McKenna ’21, pictured with the ball last season, averaged 13 points per game for Dartmouth in nonconference play.

the tide turned against the Big Green in the middle of the third.

“In both games, we felt that they turned up the pressure,” Louie said.

Loyola distanced itself on a 22-0 run, and the Big Green fell 72-56 in its last game of 2019. McKenna tied her career high of 21 points and added five rebounds. Luce also had a strong game with 10 points, and Asha Taylor ’22 combined nine points with three rebounds. Two of the team’s strongest players and senior leaders, point guard McKenna and stellar rebounder Lenart, ran into foul trouble during the game. Koclanes said she felt that their absence and Loyola’s run was an important lesson heading into conference play. Both Lenart and Louie said they felt like the games were positive indications of the team’s progress despite the losses.

Throughout the break, the Dartmouth women have been consistently honing their skills as a team and as individuals. Koclanes said the team has worked on passing skills and decision-making in order to make the most of its offense. On defense, the Big Green worked on pushing out on defense to prevent 3-point shooting.

“We are definitely working right now on being a tougher team,” Lenart said. “Being more aggressive and not being intimidated by aggressiveness because that’s going to come in the Ivy season.”

Louie echoed this, and said she felt that the biggest lesson of the Buffalo and Loyola losses was to be more aggressive when other teams increase the pressure. She added that the team worked on returning to their

fundamentals — particularly ball fakes, pivots and being strong with the ball.

Last year, the Big Green barely missed making the Ivy League tournament with a conference record of 6-8. The team only plays three games in January coming up before heading into the busy back-to-back weekend game schedule that is traditional in the Ivy League.

“We are predicted to be the bottom of the Ivy League, but the mindset right now is to try to change that,” Lenart said. “Not just in terms of the results, but in who we are as players and what we want to bring to the table.”

The Big Green will return to action and begin conference play with a 1 p.m. home game against Harvard this Saturday.